“Okay, maybe it’s connected but it could still be a coincidence.”
I didn’t mind talking about this if it kept the questions at bay.
“There’s more,” Forrest continued, “if you track where the thing was that night, the first sighting was close to the Pagan Hill area.”
That got me listening. I sat up straight.
“How do you know?”
“I dug around,” Forrest said.
“He’s right,” Kate cut in, “The four of us know better than anyone else that there’s been a cover-up, but people are still talking about it. The first sighting I could find was at the bottom of the hill. That was a good two hours before the thing attacked us.”
“Huh,” Forrest said, “I couldn’t track it that far back. The closest I could get was a ‘big black cat’ racing along the road into town, coming from the Pagan Hill direction.”
It was the first time any of us had directly referenced the creature. Just like that, all eyes were on me. Expectation hung in the air. It was time for me to tell everyone what had happened.
Except I couldn’t.
“We shouldn’t be having this conversation at all,” Dee said.
I looked at him in surprise. I thought he’d have been the most eager to find out what had happened. I knew he’d not been asking me anything out of respect, but I’d been sure he’d want to know more eventually. I saw a chance to deflect this away from me.
“Yeah, look, if I’m honest I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We have to talk about it!” Kate said, her voice going up a notch, “That thing was proof.”
Her temper was up. She bit her lip.
“Proof of what? Look, I really don’t want to talk about this.”
Kate glared at me.
“It was proof I’m not crazy,” she said. Her voice was well above the ‘acceptable library whisper’ by that point. I stared at her dumbfounded. What was she going on about? Why was she angry with me? Kate got up, slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the library, fuming.
“What was all that about?” Dee asked. He was as taken aback by Kate’s sudden flare up as I was.
“Search me,” I said.
“Redheads,” Forrest snorted, “Who knows what goes through their pretty little ginger minds?”
“For the love of God, shut up Forrest!” I said. I didn’t mean it in a bantering way.
Forrest could still be a tool, and this was one of those moments. For some reason, Kate had been furious and all of it had been directed at me.
“Right, well as fun as this has been, why don’t we drop the whole thing?” Dee said, “Whatever happened, it’s over now, right? There’s no point poking around at it. We’ve been told what’ll happen if we talk about the thing and all that. So let’s drop it, guys.”
Once again Dee’s attitude surprised me. He really was ready to let it all go. I didn’t mind, it was just out-of-character for him.
“Sometimes I don’t get you,” I said.
“What?” Dee said.
We left it at that and I went home. I thought about what I’d learnt, tried to figure out how the murder and the monster might be connected and how any of it related to me, if it did at all. I drew a blank. I texted Kate to ask if she was alright but got nothing back. Tried a few minutes later. Still nothing.
I got home in a bad mood and wanted to be alone.
“Jayce,” Mum’s voice called out as I stepped through the front door, “There’s someone here to see you.”
Good grief, now what?
Reluctantly, I stepped into the dining room.
Victoria Pryce was sitting at the table with my mum, a cup of tea in front of her.
“Jason,” she smiled broadly, “How lovely to see you again.”
Chapter Eighteen: She Sells Sanctuary
Seeing Victoria casually sitting at the dining room table was a total surprise. She and Mum looked like they’d been having a good long chat. Mum had laid out some of her latest vintage clothes finds.
“Uh, hi Victoria, what are you...doing here?”
“Well, I said I’d be in touch,” Victoria replied, “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by.”
“No, that’s fine, I guess.”
“I was telling your mother what a brave young man you are,” Victoria continued.
A sudden rush of fear hit me. What had Victoria told Mum? I didn’t want her to know anything that had happened.
“Yes, and not much else,” Mum said, “I wish you’d tell me more.”
“As do I, Miss Storm. Unfortunately...”
“It’s a matter of national security,” Mum finished the sentence with a roll of her eyes. Mum was a bit of a hippie and didn’t have a lot of time for the government. The papers would have called her a ‘left-wing loony’ and they’d kind of have a point.
“I’m afraid so,” Victoria said.
Relief that Victoria hadn’t been telling tales washed over me. Part of me was pleased to see her. On the other hand, coming round to my house felt odd. I remembered that she had stopped the creature from killing me though. Plus, she’d also been the only person I could think of to turn to when I’d been planning my escape from Section 19. I guessed that being odd came with the territory of dealing with the supernatural.
“Right,” I said, “Mum, could Victoria and I have a word in private?”
Mum narrowed her eyes at me. I knew the expression. It was a definite ‘we’ll talk about this later, young man,’ look. She would only put up with so much of all this cloak and dagger secrecy. Once she’d made that point, she left us to it. I heard her go upstairs to the spare bedroom that doubled as a storage and sewing room.
“You’re looking well.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” I replied.
I couldn’t help feeling self-conscious in her company. Victoria had a refined presence, and her accent was upper class. She felt out of place in our small dining room which was dotted with my mum’s artistic efforts. Everything from wonky pottery to less than brilliant paintings crowded the wall and shelf space. Mum was forever finding some new artistic pursuit to throw herself into when she wasn’t running the shop.
“So, the last time we saw each other...”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
“Only about a billion.”
Victoria smiled at that. I tried to marshal my thoughts and find a sensible opening question, but I was stumped. Where to begin?
“Why are you here?”
“I want to invite you to visit our sanctuary,” Victoria replied, “In Avebury. It’s nearby.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something special about you, and I’d like to know more. I’d like to introduce you to some people who might be able to help you.”
“I don’t need any help,” I replied defensively, “And I’m not special.”
A flash of anger crossed Victoria’s face.
“Jason,” she said, “I’ll make you a deal. Don’t lie to me and I won’t lie to you. That way we won’t be wasting each other’s time. I saw what you did that night. I saw the way you kicked the creature across the playground. No-one normal has that level of strength, which means you’re a supernatural. My organisation is built around protecting and aiding people like you. So. I’ve told you my side, now tell me yours. What are you?”
I sighed and sat down at the table opposite Victoria.
I would have to trust someone, eventually.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, “I’ve been this way since I was twelve.”
Victoria nodded, pleased. The anger had gone.
“Been what way?” she asked.
“Strong. When I get angry or scared. Able to do stuff like you saw.”
“Interesting,” Victoria nodded, “but you’ve never changed?”
“Changed?”
“Most supernaturals shape-shift. It’s highly unusual to gain abilities withou
t some form of physical change.”
“Brilliant,” I said, “So not only am I a freak, I’m a freak amongst the freaks.”
“Jason, I will say this once. You are not a freak.”
“I doubt Major Wilson would see it that way.”
“So you met him, then?”
“Yeah. Not a fan.”
Victoria broke out her dazzling smile.
And then, without planning to, I told her everything.
Everything that had happened that night, everything I knew about myself and my strength. How I’d been hiding it because I was scared of what the other kids would think of me. How I’d hurt Maxwell. How I’d been hoping it was all a hormonal phase or something. The attack on Section 19, Major Wilson, the cage, Brooks’ execution.
All of it came tumbling out in one long flow.
I took a leap of faith on Victoria that afternoon. Partly it was because I felt there was nowhere else to turn and no-one else I could talk to. Sure, showing up at my home felt a bit off but apart from that, what had she done? Saved my life and given me some answers, invited me to visit her when she could have just carted me off using her private troops. I didn’t know how much of what she claimed was true. I did know if I didn’t tell someone everything I’d go nuts.
I kept my voice low, conscious of Mum not overhearing, but she was the low hum of her sewing machine told me she was busy upstairs.
Victoria sat and listened to my account. When I got to the bit about the assault on Section 19, she looked horrified.
“What an ordeal,” she said, “but that makes sense.”
“What does?”
“We hack into Section 19’s systems. That’s how we’re able to follow their social media analysis and get ahead of them. At around two on Saturday morning, everything went dark. We thought they’d locked us out of their network. It didn’t occur to us that the network might be down.”
“Major Wilson thought you had a mole there.”
“No,” Victoria said, “Far too risky. Moles get caught and then they talk. Their systems aren’t that secure. It’s far easier to monitor what they’re doing remotely and piggyback off it.”
I continued my story. I’d spent years hiding things and to get all the secrets out in the open was a huge relief. It took maybe an hour and at the end of it I was light headed. I felt like I’d just taken a good long shower after years of being unwashed. Secrets are like dirt, I thought. They build up around you, they creep under your fingernails, they darken your soul.
Finally here was someone I could tell all mine to. The sense of relief was overwhelming.
Somewhere in amongst all of that Victoria and I traded phone numbers. Later I realised that I’d forgotten to mention the murder in Pagan Hill. I’d been too wrapped up in telling my story to throw in a detail I wasn’t sure was connected.
When I was done, Victoria was silent for a while.
“Well, Major Wilson was right about one thing,” she said, “You really are a lucky man.”
“It doesn’t feel like that.”
“I can imagine. If you’d shown your strength he would have...”
“I know. I was terrified.”
“With good reason,” Victoria replied.
“There’s something else,” I said. I’d completely forgotten to mention my healing abilities. I unbuttoned my shirt. Victoria looked startled and then she understood.
“The cuts,” she said, “They’re gone.”
She pulled a pair of glasses out of her pocket and put them on to examine where the monster had scratched me.
“Fascinating,” she said, “You can still see the marks of where it cut you if you look closely.”
She lifted a hand to my chest, trying to trace where the cuts had been, squinting.
Which was the exact moment that Mum walked back into the dining room.
Me with my shirt unbuttoned and Victoria Pryce stroking her fingertips across my chest.
Chapter Nineteen: Mum
To say Mum hit the roof would be an understatement.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she said, her voice high-pitched outrage, “He’s sixteen years old, you...”
The stream of expletives that Mum aimed at Victoria is unprintable. I was amazed she even knew words like that. I tried to intervene, but Mum was raging. How dare this woman try to seduce her son? What kind of sick, twisted person was she? Victoria couldn’t get a word in edgeways, though not for want of trying, as I buttoned up my shirt. Mum angry was a force of nature. Mum furious was something else altogether. Threats of calling the police came spilling out. Victoria tried to placate Mum, but she had no chance.
“Mum, for god’s sake,” I said once she’d sent Victoria away.
“For god’s sake nothing, young man, I know a predator when I see one,” Mum shot back.
“What? A predator? Mum, please you got the wrong end of the stick there, I swear...”
“Jason, I don’t know what’s going on with you but enough is enough. You go missing for a whole night, you come back with the police and then that...” – again, I’m deleting the swear words here – “...turns up at our doorstep grooming you. I want to know the truth, right now.”
I was angry, hurt and humiliated. Just when I’d been getting answers, Mum had messed everything up.
“Well so do I,” I shouted back.
“What do you mean by that?” she said.
“I want to know the truth as well. You’ve been keeping secrets for as long as I’ve been alive.”
Mum suddenly realised what I was talking about.
“Jason, no,” she said.
“You won’t tell me anything about my dad, you avoid the topic altogether. You can’t blame me if I’m keeping secrets now. I learnt how to do it from you after all!”
Mum’s face went from furious to on-the-verge-of-tears in two seconds flat. The colour drained out of her face.
“Jayce, please,” she said, “I’ve asked you not to press me on your father. Please...”
I was too angry to listen or care.
“I tell you what,” I shouted, “You tell me everything about my dad and I’ll tell you everything that’s going on. Until then, conversation closed.”
I walked out of the living room, slamming the door behind me and went up to my room and put some music on to drown out the sounds of Mum crying.
I felt terrible the minute I got upstairs. I was just too angry though.
*
An hour later my phone rang. It was Victoria.
“I am so sorry, Victoria,” I said, “Mum just completely misunderstood.”
“So I saw,” Victoria replied, “I haven’t been shouted at quite that much since I was your age.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have appeared like that without an invitation. Of course your mother would something strange was going on.”
“I guess.”
“Hold on. I’m still driving, I’ll pull over. I wasn’t sure you’d pick up.”
“It really wasn’t your fault.”
“Well, be that as it may, I’m sorry we were interrupted because I broke our deal.”
“What deal?”
“I said if you didn’t lie to me I wouldn’t lie to you, but I didn’t have time to answer any of your questions.”
That was true.
“I’ll keep this as brief as I can. Stewart - Major Wilson was right about one thing. There is a war going on, but not the one he believes in. It’s not about humans versus monsters. It’s the age-old war of prejudice, fear and superstition versus enlightenment, rationality and science. I’m a scientist first and foremost. I’m trained to study, experiment and discover. Most supernaturals – what Major Wilson calls vermin - are people like you and me, but with a fascinating wealth of untapped potential. The discoveries we can make in genetics, biology, chemistry, even physics - by applying modern scientific methods to the supernaturals are astonishing. We can use these di
scoveries to save people’s lives – and by people I mean both humans and supernaturals. They aren’t freaks and they aren’t evil. Yes, there can be vicious killers amongst them, but that’s also true of ordinary humans.
“My business is saving people’s lives. That’s what we do. Our definition of people is not, however, blinkered by prejudice and fear. Hence the sanctuary. Hence our reason for helping rather than killing the creature which attacked you. Incidentally, she’s alive and well. We still don’t know what she is but we’ve identified her gender.”
Victoria paused again as if considering whether to tell me the next bit.
“I had a son once, Jason. A boy like you who would be around your age if he’d lived. Instead he died of a rare cancer, Neuroblastoma. Six months ago our laboratory had a breakthrough with an experimental cure for that illness. It’s far too late for my poor son, of course. But without the sanctuary and studying the supernaturals’ abilities, it would have taken decades to find a cure.”
“That’s who we are, and that’s what we do. We save people’s lives. I won’t apologise for that.”
Something I should have asked earlier occurred to me.
“The attack on Section 19. Was that something to do with you?”
“Saving lives, Jason. Not taking them. We had nothing to do with that. Something is going on, something serious. The – what was it you called them?”
“The Monster Liberation Front,” I said.
“Whoever they are, they had a reason for their attack. They must have spent years infiltrating Section 19. They wouldn’t have blown all that hard work for nothing.”
They mentioned a file, I thought, but I said nothing. I wanted to trust Victoria but despite that, I decided – belatedly – that some caution was necessary. I was slightly regretting having been so open with her. Letting other people into your confidence can be a hard thing to do. Not just at the time, but after you’ve done it. That’s when you wonder if you should have said as much as you did, or if your honesty will be used against you one day.
“Well,” I said, “Thanks for telling me that. It makes things clearer.”
“I need to get moving. Do you think you’ll be able to come to the sanctuary at the weekend? I can send a car for you.”
Personal Demons Page 8
