Animal

by G S Banks

  ‘Lucy!’ shouts Alisdair.

  They land right in front of us.

  ‘I’m a Frog!’ says James, ripping off his helmet. ‘Holy moly, I’m a Frog! I’m a Frog!’

  Lucy clambers down from his back, beaming at him and holding on to a mannequin.

  ‘Thanks for the ride,’ she says, patting him on the back.

  Alisdair takes her by the arm. He’s scowling but she just pouts at him.

  ‘I’m fine, Alisdair,’ she says.

  James shouts and curses and leaps up into the air again. I can’t help but laugh, first of all from relief and astonishment, but then because manifestation couldn’t have happened to a better person. He is bounding all over the place, up and away, landing, then pelting off in the other direction.

  ‘Woah! If Uncle Steve could see me now!’

  He looks like a crazed astronaut in the silver suit, defying gravity. Lady Muldoon swoops in front us, looking pleased.

  ‘Our first Frog of the program. James Johnson. Very, very well done,’ she says.

  He keeps on bounding.

  ‘It can take weeks, months, sometimes even years before a Frog can fully control the urge to jump.’

  ‘Years?’ shouts James, from high in the air.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ says Lady Muldoon. ‘But you’re in good hands.’

  James’s face turns to concern mid air, but I’ve got bigger things to worry about. There’s only one group left to tackle the burning building. Heather and me. Lady Muldoon reminds us of this fact and tells us that our time is now. I position myself next to Heather and we set the timers on our watches. We speed towards the building and step inside the doorway. The smoke is thick. I can’t see, I can’t breath. There’s nothing else for it but to fall to our hands and knees and begin to crawl. Flames dance all around us. There’s a flight of stairs – Heather points towards them and we crawl over. There’s a layer of burning flame on the ceiling above them. We climb the stairs on our hands and knees, moving clumsily in the suits. I’m already covered in sweat – so much my hair sticks to my face. We get to the top of the steps and see the landing area with various doorways. We crawl along, searching the rooms. There’s a group of mannequins in one room all sitting back to back on chairs in the middle.

  We crawl underneath fallen beams of wood that lie diagonally across the doorway. Once we are through, I point at my watch – five minutes left. She nods. We run to the middle of the room and I grab a mannequin. There are flames on every side. We have a mannequin, maybe we can do this. But as I am looking around for the best escape route I hear a loud crack behind me. I turn around to see Heather, laid on the floor, trapped under an enormous beam of wood. She writhes and wriggles under it but there’s nothing she can do – it lies across her so heavily she can’t get out. She looks up at me from the floor, a pained expression on her face, trying to push the beam off her chest. The flames are growing, closing in on us. It is hot now, so hot.

  I drop the mannequin and rush towards her. I get hold of the beam with both hands but it is like lead. We need Ben, someone strong. I can’t do this alone. But as I see the flames licking all around us I realise that I have to do this alone, there’s no time for anything else. I put both hands on one side of the beam and begin to push, as Heather struggles beneath. I pull back then shove with all my might and it does move, even if just slightly. I gesture to Heather, to push with me. We do it again, a shove, both of us. Her face grimaces as the beam moves a little more. We continue like that, for who knows how long, both of us using all our might, sweat pouring down our faces. Eventually the beam rolls off Heather’s body enough for me to drag her from under it.

  She’s weak, so I hook her arm around my shoulder and guide us out of the room. We duck through a doorway, then back down the stairs, slower this time, taking every step together until we finally reach the ground floor. The fire is roaring down here so once again, we get down on our hands and knees, crawling, me holding Heather’s arm and guiding her along. Finally, mercifully, we see the door, get to our feet and stumble into the open air. I pull off Heather’s helmet, then my own and there we stand together, dazed and exhausted. It takes a while for us to adjust to being outside, but then she looks at me with a slightly sheepish expression on her face.

  ‘Thank you,’ she says.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ I say, ‘Just try not to burn alive next time, honey.’

  She rolls her eyes, but her features soften and she raises an eyebrow.

  ‘I guess I asked for that,’ she says, a smile on her lips.

  19. What Just Happened?

  Nine days since Kelci was taken, Trainee Quarters

  For the first time ever Heather smiles at me at breakfast. At first I just stare at her, holding my tray, but once I realise she is definitely smiling at me, I half-smile back, wondering what it means. I slide into my chair, opposite Ben who is munching his way through a mountain of food and James who is pouring golden syrup over some spicy sausages on top of butter-covered waffles. I feel a glimmer of hope in my heart this morning. I helped Heather yesterday, I really helped her. But before I have a chance to dwell on this sliver of positivity, Dominic, in all his short-haired glory turns up at the end of the table, looking down his nose at me. I groan inwardly. What does he want?

  ‘Your poor little sister,’ he says. ‘Has there been no word? How old is she? 14? 15? Terrible for her to be out there all alone.’

  ‘Go away, Dominic,’ I say.

  ‘And a Gregory too,’ he goes on. ‘It just doesn’t seem right. I know if one of us Federov’s was kidnapped the entire family would be out searching night and day. But then all us Federov’s are Anitars. There’s not much you can do is there? It just goes to show some people are naturally gifted, and some people, aren’t.’

  Ben looks up from his food, a snarl beginning to rumble in his chest.

  ‘It’s all right,’ I say, touching his hand across the table. ‘I can handle it.’

  He burrows his big eyebrows but doesn’t say anything. I feel everyone looking at us and listening. Heather, Alisdair, Lucy. They’re all there on the opposite table, watching. I have to try to look brave, show I can fight my own battles.

  ‘Even one of the great Gregorys couldn’t manifest. A warning for us all, I’d say. You can’t rely on your family background, you can’t rely on anything but yourself. I mean, even these two nobodies manifested and you didn’t.’

  He gestures towards Ben and James who are both glaring at him wide-eyed.

  ‘Maybe those of us that did manifest will be assigned to find your sister. Wouldn’t that be ironic? You, sent home with your memory erased. No clue that you’ve been here all this time. Of course, not much happened here as far as you’re concerned.’

  My chair scrapes against the floor as I stand up slowly. My heart is racing and my cheeks flush as I sense all eyes on me.

  ‘The program isn’t done yet,’ I say. ‘And it won’t be you who finds my sister.’

  His eyes flash blood-red.

  ‘It won’t be anyone at this rate, will it?’

  I move forward and level my face with his.

  ‘I will find her,’ I say.

  I’m so close to him I can feel the warmth of his breath and just as I’m wondering if he will spit at me we are called for our first Theory class of the day.

  Since then I’ve spent the entire day trying to look like Dominic’s words didn’t bother me. But they did. They bothered me so much I haven’t been able to think of anything else. The horrifying fact is; he’s right. I haven’t manifested. I’m no closer to finding Kelci and I’m not out there night and day, like I should be. What am I even doing any more? It has been nine days since she was taken. Nine days!

  I’ve locked myself in a cubicle in the girl’s toilets, the only place I can find away from prying eyes. Now I’m in here I can’t hold back the tears. He’s right and he’s only saying what everyone else is thinking. I’m letting everyone down. As I heave a sob I hear a soft tap
on the door of my cubicle, then Lucy’s voice, quiet.

  ‘Nina, are you ok?’

  How did she get in here? I didn’t hear a thing.

  ‘Lucy, leave me alone,’ I say, unravelling a wad of toilet paper. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she says. ‘You’re sobbing in the toilets. Even I know that’s not a good sign.’

  I blow my nose.

  ‘I just want to be left alone.’

  ‘Come on,’ she says. ‘I promise I’ll just listen and I won’t judge.’

  I sigh heavily. I suppose it won’t do any harm to talk… And if someone could listen to me, without judging, wouldn’t that be a first? I unlatch the door and step out, the toilet paper still in my hand, covered in mascara. She smiles at me softly, then perches herself on the side of one of the washbasins.

  ‘I’m listening.’

  I perch myself on another washbasin. Then I let it all out. Kelci. My parents. Terence. Even Mason. She just nods, and listens, as she promised. At the end of it all I feel better, lighter. Then she helps me to look less like a panda. As she dabs away at my cheeks with a wet tissue, she tells me that she wants to help me, she really does and she is not just some silly girl and that Alisdair has never let her do anything because he’s so afraid that something might happen to her but it just means she never gets to live.

  She talks earnestly and sweetly, in a way, and I can’t help but wonder if I should just let her join me. But then there’s Alisdair and he has a point. She seems so young and small and way too innocent to know what she’s getting herself into. She didn’t see those men like I did … she thinks it’s all a game. But for one so young and small and innocent she will simply not give up. And after a while I find myself being told that I need a team and that she is it and that she will wake me tonight and together we will see what we can find out.

  _______

  It is 2am and I feel an insistent tap on my arm. It’s Lucy of course, and she’s breathless. She’s all ready to go and so am I, dressed in preparation under the bed sheets. I try to ignore the weight of foreboding that bears down on me. What happens if we get caught? I would not like to meet an Apprentice up there in the dead of night. What if there’s a Snake lurking? Lucy holds her finger over her mouth, as if I was ever going to make any noise. I lead the way, creeping out with her close behind. We dash through the labyrinth of corridors in the Trainee quarters and up the stony stairs until we reach the Theory corridor, which looks very different now – dark and spooky with moonlight streaming onto the floor through the round windows. The outlines of the animals on the ceiling look eerie in this light. I lead us through the shadows until we reach a staircase at the end of the corridor, which we promptly ascend.

  On the next floor there’s a square space with doors on all four sides and we begin to methodically nudge each door open, peeping through to see what lies inside. The first few reveal nothing but empty rooms with fancy wooden desks and chairs. It’s almost impossible to tell what we are looking for. Then suddenly my heart leaps. There’s someone here. We scramble into the nearest doorway pushing ourselves back into it, desperate to stay hidden. All we can do is hold our breaths and watch as a girl walks briskly out of the room, a file tucked under her arm. We wait until she disappears down the staircase.

  ‘Let’s go in there,’ hisses Lucy.

  ‘What if there’s someone else inside?’ I say.

  ‘Let’s just see.’

  Before I know what’s happening Lucy is at the door and sneaking a peek inside. She turns to me, beckoning.

  ‘It’s empty. Come on.’

  I take a massive breath and run towards her, finding myself in a room with flickering computer screens and electronic maps lit up on glass screens.

  ‘Let’s check the computers,’ she says, beside herself.

  And so I find myself in front of a bright screen with my trembling hands over the keyboard. I click onto one of the many folders then search through the documents – finding pages of writing that mean nothing to me. Bang, bang, bang, goes my heart. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. My eyes flick to the door. Lucy stares at her screen as she taps fervently on the keyboard. I open a document and see a symbol. A purple flower… Surrounded by green leaves… Suddenly I realise, I know that symbol! It was on the jackets of Kelci’s kidnappers. I begin frantically scrambling through the document. There are co-ordinates, for a building of some kind. Lucy stands close to an electronic map on the wall.

  ‘I’ve found something,’ I hiss.

  She almost jumps out of her skin.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Check these co-ordinates on that map, behind you.’

  ‘Ok, ok,’ she says, jumping over to the screen.

  As I whisper the numbers of the co-ordinates she finds the location on the map, touching it as it moves under her fingers. She zooms in. Europe.

  ‘Switzerland,’ she says.

  She’s so excited she jumps up and down, but just as I am about to run over I hear a noise behind me – the door, it’s opening! All I have time to do is dive under the nearest desk and curl up with my knees jammed under my chin. I look out and see Lucy is still there, scared stiff.

  ‘Someone’s coming,’ I spit out. ‘Hide!’

  Can she hear me? It’s too late. She has nowhere to go, she’s completely exposed, and whoever is coming through that door will either be in the room in less than a second or is there already. All I can do is watch her lean against the map as the sounds of voices begin to fill the room. I squeeze onto my legs, waiting for trouble to hit but as I keep my eyes on Lucy I see her twist around, and then disappear, right in front of my eyes. Just like that, she is gone. I stop breathing.

  What just happened?

  The voices get louder – one male, one female and I have no choice but stay curled up under this desk. Did she just manifest? She’s gone. I stay as quiet as I can, as they talk in hushed voices and sit at their desks. Time passes, I can hardly tell how much but eventually they leave the room and I hear the door shut once again.

  ‘Lucy! Where are you? Let’s go!’

  She suddenly re-appears in the same place she disappeared, looking shell-shocked, confused and wildly delighted all at the same time.

  ‘Did I just, did I just – disappear?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘I vanished. Into thin air – they couldn’t see me. Right?’

  ‘Yes!”

  Her eyes shine. Her irises are turning slowly from green to purple, and her hair is morphing into burnt orange.

  ‘Your eyes are changing colour,’ I say. ‘And your hair.’

  ‘I’m a Chameleon!’ she says. ‘I’m a Chameleon!’

  ‘You are,’ I say, smiling.

  ‘I got the co-ordinates,’ she says, still looking dazed. ‘I memorised them.’

  ‘Good. Now let’s get the hell out of here.’

  It doesn’t take long for us to get back to the dorm where we whisper and communicate mostly in gestures. We sit on Lucy’s bed, side by side, too energised to sleep. Suddenly there’s a thud from somewhere in the room and we snap our heads round to see what it is. Over there, in the darkness Heather Jackson is staring at us, makeup-less, curls tumbling around her shoulders. How much did she hear? Does she know what we just did? I exchange a look with Lucy and after that, nobody says a word until morning.

  20. Nostrils Flare

  Ten days since Kelci was taken, Trainee Quarters

  Heather knows what we did last night. I have a feeling she heard us too, talking in the room before we left. She’s been keeping those foxy eyes of hers on Lucy and me all day, giving us sidelong looks, wearing an expression I just can’t seem to read. Is she suspicious? Judging us? It doesn’t seem so. It’s more like curiosity, like she wants to talk to us, to say something. The whole thing makes me jumpy but I just keep telling myself: we found a clue to where Kelci might be. A real life clue and it came to us because I remembered something, about the night she was taken. The purple flower
… It came back to me. It must be a valid clue, surely… I’ve never seen that symbol anywhere else before. Perhaps I can be of some use. And now I have my partner in crime, Lucy. She might not be what you would call stable, or trained, or in any way predictable but her heart is definitely in the right place. She showed that last night, risking herself to help me.

  She’s spent the entire day revelling in her newfound status as a Chameleon, showing off and disappearing but she’s not quite used to it yet so she tends to bang into things and sometimes she ends up to walking into walls rather than vanishing into them. She and James lark about together, making for a bizarre but amusing pair, what with Lucy’s eyes and hair changing colour every few seconds and James bounding around. Even Alisdair wears the hint of a smile today. He must be relieved. To know that his sister is an Anitar too, to know that they can stay together and she has strengths now that she can train and protect herself with.

  All in all, I would say this is the most light-hearted day of the program so far. Things are going so well I don’t even notice that there has been no sign of Lady Muldoon all day. It doesn’t occur to me once, until we are all assembled in the Training Hall for what I expect will be a one-on-one combat session. I’m bracing myself for another fight, wondering who I will be paired with and secretly hoping it will be Linda because I managed to beat her last time, a small victory that I have clung to ever since. We are sat on the benches as usual, waiting to be told when the combat will start. There are giggles as Lucy makes her hair change colour every time James touches it: eggshell-beige to pond-green to candy-pink. But the tittering stops when a loud bang resounds across the length of the hall. All heads turn towards the door. A slight tremor travels along the floor, which feels familiar to me, it can only be one thing – a Rabbit’s thump. Sure enough, swooping through the door is Lady Muldoon, flanked by two Apprentices either side, each of whom are clearly Rabbits with their snowy-white locks and cherubic faces.

  Lady Muldoon wears a thick, wine-coloured cloak with her hair swept back and a look on her face that I can only describe as formidable. She carries a wooden staff in her right hand, which I remember being told is the only weapon a Deer ever uses, a weapon used solely for defense. I’m not quite sure why Lady Muldoon is holding hers but I have a sinking feeling the reason is not good. Silence descends. I get a nervous, spinny feeling in my stomach. What does she want? Why is she here like this? She hasn’t said a word but it is obvious that everyone is wondering the same thing. Lucy’s hair turns slate grey.