The Mortal Knife

by D. J. McCune

  ‘She’s here,’ Dan hissed, shifting from foot to foot. A long, black car was sweeping up the gravel driveway into the school. A murmur of excitement rose from the mob. Adam and his friends had stayed up on the steps where they could see the whole thing. Melissa and Archie were in the hall waiting to meet the artist before the judging began. One of the local TV crews was already in position at the bottom of the steps (Adam was careful to keep a pillar between him and the cameraman) and another news van was chasing the black car up the drive. There were whoops and catcalls as the convoy reached the main building.

  The Bulb was waiting, looking delighted at all the attention. He smoothed his bald pate and turned on a truly terrifying smile. Even the cameraman took an involuntary step back. The driver of the car stepped out first. He looked like a chauffeur from a film, only he had no hat and every visible scrap of skin was tattooed. He opened the rear door and a cloud of cigarette smoke billowed out, choking the people waiting at the bottom of the steps, The Bulb included. One pale, bare leg appeared from the fog, clad in an impossibly high black platform shoe. This was followed by another pale leg; and finally, as the driver offered his hand, the rest of Luna Kazuna followed – to stunned silence.

  Dan was one of the first to find his voice, or at least part of it. ‘She hasn’t got any clothes on,’ he squeaked. ‘She forgot her clothes!’

  Adam could understand why he had said that. Luna Kazuna was agonisingly thin. Just how thin was painfully obvious because her clothing mostly seemed to be made of net and every single rib was on display and ready to be counted. Her hair was black and hung to her navel on one side while the other half of her head was shaved and oiled until it was shiny. She was wearing the biggest sunglasses Adam had ever seen and her lips were slathered with black lipstick. She had at least put on some kind of stretchy black bandage across the bits she couldn’t show on TV, but there wasn’t much left to the imagination. Even Spike was gawking.

  The Bulb made a heroic attempt to recover and scuttled forward, fawning for the cameras. ‘My dear Ms Kazuna, such an honour to have you here today!’

  ‘Call me Luna,’ their visitor barked, in a voice that managed to be squeaky and steely at the same time. She took a last drag on her cigarette and flung it down on the gravel. Her tattooed minion stepped forward and ground it out with a size-fourteen shoe, glaring around, daring anyone to object. She held out her hand for The Bulb and with awkward chivalry he raised it to his lips. It looked like he was kissing a pale, dead fish. A titter of nervous laughter rippled through the crowd.

  ‘Hello Luna,’ Ms Havens said, restoring some kind of sanity to proceedings. ‘Lovely to see you again. Thanks for coming along today.’ The two women exchanged air kisses.

  ‘She knows Luna Kazuna?’ Dan whispered.

  ‘They went to art college together. Something like that.’ Adam thought that was what Melissa had told him. Ms Havens looked a bit out there by teacher standards – but beside Luna Kazuna she looked like the girl next door.

  The local evening news reporter had been burbling his introduction into the camera and now he was determined to get an interview with the star of the show. He barged forward and bared his polished teeth in an equally polished smile, thrusting his microphone in Luna Kazuna’s face. ‘What are you here for today, Luna?’

  ‘Call me Ms Kazuna,’ the artist snapped. Her minion stepped forward, growling, looking ready to dismember the reporter, but Luna Kazuna patted his arm and he subsided like a well-trained dog. ‘I am here for the art of course.’

  The reporter was still keeping a wary eye on the chauffeur-slash-pet-werewolf. ‘Lovely. And what are you hoping to see inside?’

  ‘A lot of darkness. Teenagers are full of darkness. Beautiful darkness in every brush stroke. I remember it well. It excites me.’

  ‘What is she on?’ Dan muttered.

  ‘Dunno.’ Adam had a sinking feeling that Melissa was going to be disappointed with their visitor. He knew artists were supposed to be eccentric but Luna Kazuna was way beyond that and riding the train to crazy town.

  The reporter was making one last desperate attempt to get some kind of sensible quote on camera. ‘Some people have said that you’re nothing more than a talentless, one-woman publicity machine. What’s your response to that?’

  Luna Kazuna stared at him, inscrutable behind her huge sunglasses. If she was angry she didn’t betray herself with as much as a flicker of movement. ‘My response is this.’ Slowly her tongue slid out between her black lips and she blew an enormous raspberry.

  There was a long silence before people started sniggering. It spread like wildfire through the crowd until everyone was laughing, teachers and pupils alike. A few people whooped and cheered. Adam grinned. Luna Kazuna might be as mad as a box of frogs but at least she was entertaining. The reporter was glaring all round him but the visitor herself never displayed a hint of emotion. Instead, she turned and swept up the stairs into the main building, followed by a grinning Ms Havens. The Bulb scurried behind, bowing, scraping and bellowing, ‘Bell’s gone! Get to class!’

  There was a dull hour in geography before the message came through that pupils should gather in the assembly hall. A giddy horde swirled through the corridors, still laughing at the raspberry-blowing. Adam was filled with a mixture of excitement and nerves. Part of him really wanted Melissa to do well – it would be brilliant for her if she did – but what if this meant his face would be plastered all over the internet for Spike’s software to find?

  They squeezed into the assembly hall. Adam’s year group were the youngest there so they were able to stand at the front and watch Luna Kazuna in action. She had slapped a nicotine patch on each arm and was pacing up and down the stage like a caged animal, wobbling occasionally on her platform shoes.

  Ms Havens came in with the art students. Melissa was chatting to Archie and he laughed at something she said. Adam felt a quick and unexpected pang of jealousy. It was crazy but sometimes he still wondered what Melissa saw in him. She was so nice and so gorgeous and she seemed to like being around him. It had only been a month since they had started ‘dating’, but all their ‘dates’ were in school and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could get away with doing that. Sooner or later she would want to meet up in the evenings; and even if he wasn’t grounded forever he still wouldn’t be able to act like a normal boyfriend. She was never going to be able to come round to his house or meet his family or just hang out in his room. What sort of future did they really have?

  He tried to push those thoughts away as Archie and Melissa came over and focused on giving her the biggest grin he could. ‘How did it go?’

  ‘It was brilliant!’ Melissa’s eyes were shining. ‘She’s amazing.’

  ‘Pretty cool,’ Archie agreed.

  Adam stared at them and he could see he wasn’t the only one. ‘Really?’

  Dan wasn’t as restrained. ‘How was it brilliant? She’s mental! The only brilliant bit was when she did this.’ He stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.

  Archie recoiled and wiped his face, swearing at Dan, but Melissa rolled her eyes. ‘You didn’t fall for all that, did you? All the “Woooo, I’m so crazy!” stuff?’

  Spike raised an eyebrow. ‘It didn’t seem like an act. It was pretty convincing.’

  Melissa grinned. ‘She’s actually really normal and nice. The Luna Kazuna thing is just her persona. She was telling us about it earlier. How she used to be a really good painter but nobody really noticed. So, she started doing crazy stuff to get attention and then people followed her online and started buying all her stuff. And then suddenly – wham! Everything took off. Now she has her own gallery and she can show whatever art she wants.’ She lowered her voice but Adam could hear the excitement. ‘Ms Havens thinks she’s picked a few of the sixth formers for her new show. Can you believe it? Imagine getting your work in a gallery while you’re still at school! And she said that once we’re sixteen we can apply to go and do an internship in the gallery over th
e summer. I have to wait till next year but I’m totally going to do it!’

  ‘That’s brilliant,’ Adam said – and he meant it. He loved it that Melissa had a dream and she was going for it, without being afraid. How amazing would it be to be able to just concentrate on doing the thing you loved the best? What must it be like being able to give all your energy and attention to one thing? Sometimes it felt like he spent all his time trying to juggle life and death, when all he wanted to think about was going to school, growing up, having a girlfriend, being a doctor. Having a normal life.

  Where was all this negativity coming from? He tried to feel happy as The Bulb climbed back onto the stage. Behind him there were a dozen works of art on easels, hidden beneath large covers. The Bulb didn’t have to say a thing; he just gave the hall one of his killer glares and a petrified silence rippled through the pupils from the front towards the back. After the usual faff with the microphone he managed to announce the names of the winners: three sixth formers who would each have three pieces of work displayed in Luna Kazuna’s gallery. There were excited screams from the back and polite applause from everyone else. The winners walked up onto the stage, where they received a limp handshake and a smoky air kiss from the great woman.

  At this point Ms Havens stepped forward. ‘It’s a huge achievement to get your work displayed in a gallery and congratulations to those chosen. However, I want to give a special mention to three other outstanding pieces of work; one by a fifth year, the other two by fourth years. I’m delighted to say these will also be displayed in Luna’s gallery. The pieces are “Death and the Maiden” by Katie Kurtz; “Perfect Love” by Archie Maguire; and last but not least, “Passion” by Melissa Morgan.’

  There were more screams of delight. Archie looked stunned, then grinned broadly as he went up on stage. Melissa was frozen to the spot, her hands clasped over her mouth until Adam gently touched her shoulder. She snapped out of it and ran up onto the stage beaming, joining the other two, who were already waiting by their easels. Luna Kazuna was talking to the second TV reporter as the cameraman videoed each piece in turn. His camera didn’t linger on Archie’s piece, although he did go back himself for a long, smirking look – confirming Adam’s suspicion that it wasn’t really fit for family viewing.

  ‘It’s your big moment,’ Dan whispered. ‘Hope she kept your clothes on!’

  It was all happening so fast and it finally dawned on Adam that ‘Passion’ was about to be unveiled. He barely had time to gulp before The Bulb pulled away the sheet and revealed …

  ‘What the hell is that?’ Spike was squinting up at it.

  Dan was bending his head so far sideways that his ear was touching his shoulder. ‘I think I can see a hand if I look at it this way.’

  Adam stared at the picture, bemused. He could hear fragments of Luna Kazuna’s comments as she pointed at it for the camera. ‘Passion … clear for all to see … Picasso-esque with a twist of Dali … A mature style … Full of darkness – but light too – and yet beautiful darkness. I love it!’

  Adam wasn’t sure how to feel about the painting itself. At first glance it just looked like lots of swirls of paint with the odd body part sneaking into the frame. Still, as he stared at it a bit longer he could see that in a strange way the whole thing seemed to come together. It was trying to give a message and he wasn’t quite sure what that was, but there was something happy and confident about it. When he looked at Melissa shaking hands with Luna Kazuna he could see that same happiness and confidence glowing out of her. The painting said something about who she was and what was important to her – and he was in it.

  ‘I like it,’ Dan said suddenly. ‘It’s cool. Although let’s face it, you’re never going to be famous like that Mona Lisa woman. No one’s going to walk up to you in the street and say, “Hey, you’re the guy from the painting!” are they?’

  ‘Nope,’ Adam said cheerfully. He could live with that. He had a feeling that he didn’t need to worry about Spike’s software.

  The whole school was still buzzing over lunchtime. The winners had to get photographs taken, so it was a while before Archie joined them in the library. He was trying to look casual but not doing a very good job. He was still carrying a huge board with his work attached for display. ‘I have to take this up to art after lunch but I thought you might like to see it.’

  He waited for Spike to move his laptop and placed the board on their usual table. Dan raised an eyebrow and summed up what they were all thinking. ‘I don’t think they’ll be showing this on the news tonight.’

  Archie grinned. ‘Doesn’t matter. It’s going into the gallery, isn’t it? Luna Kazuna said she liked the style. You had to pick a style or artist, so I went for a mixture of pop art and manga.’

  ‘Pop art and perv art you mean,’ Spike smirked. ‘You’re lucky this won’t be on TV. Your gran would murder you.’

  Archie’s grin faltered slightly. ‘Yeah, well, I probably won’t tell my gran about the whole gallery thing. If she sees it and has another heart attack my mum will kill me.’

  ‘What style did Melissa do hers in?’ Adam was desperate to know.

  ‘Oh, she went for the Cubists mostly. You know, Picasso’s lot? Everything kind of chopped up and rearranged. But she likes Dali too, crazy surreal stuff. Eyes on your toes and all that.’ Archie pulled a face. ‘It’s not really my kind of thing but Ms Havens loves it.’

  ‘It’s not my kind of thing either,’ Adam confessed. He was just grateful he would never in a million years be identifiable, even if it ended up famous some day.

  ‘So what body parts did she get photos of?’ Archie leered.

  Spike snorted. ‘It’s not like it matters. If she was taking photos she must have some weird private collection because she didn’t use them for her painting.’

  ‘You’re just jealous,’ Dan piped up. ‘You wish you had been her muse.’

  Adam could see this whole conversation straying into territory he would rather avoid. He’d never managed to find out if Spike had, as Dan claimed, had his eye on Melissa. It was probably better to cut and run while he could. ‘Yeah, I better go and see Melissa.’

  ‘She’ll be in good form. Make the most of it, mate.’ Archie grinned.

  Adam rolled his eyes and left them to squabble. He didn’t know where Melissa would be – probably not the art rooms as Ms Havens had gone out for lunch with Luna Kazuna. After ten minutes of fruitless searching it was almost time for the bell. Adam went outside, trying to think up what he was going to say about the painting. He wanted to sound grateful that she’d picked him as her subject but he didn’t exactly want to lie either. He would probably stick to saying that he’d never seen anything like it before …

  But when he saw Melissa a second later all thoughts of the painting were pushed out of his mind. He’d expected to find her grinning from ear to ear. Instead, as she came round the side of the main building and walked towards him, he could see that she was crying. He ran over to meet her and put his hand on her cheek. ‘What’s wrong?’

  Melissa looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. ‘I just got a call. My friend from work was on her way in this morning and she got killed. It was an accident. A total freak accident.’

  Chapter 21

  Melissa was crying in earnest now. Adam put his arms round her and pulled her in close until her head was resting on his shoulder. He felt her shoulders shaking and her tear-stained cheek against his neck. She clung onto him almost fiercely.

  She pulled away a minute later. ‘Sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I just can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ Adam said, even though it wasn’t. For a family somewhere it was never going to be OK again. He didn’t want to ask but found he had to anyway. ‘What happened?’

  Melissa shook her head, bewildered. ‘It was just a complete freak accident. She was on her way into work this morning and this guy in a lorry was unloading stuff. He had this trolley thing and the brake cable snapped and it r
olled into her. It knocked her down into the road and a car … ’ She stopped and covered her mouth with her hand, the horror of it etched into her face. ‘She didn’t do anything! She was just going to work. She’s only there on a gap year.’ Her face crumpled. ‘She was supposed to be going to university in September, to do fashion. She was so excited about it!’

  Adam stared at her mutely. I killed your friend, he thought. I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t unloading the lorry or driving the car. But I made Morta angry and now your friend and lots of other people are dead. And I know I need to stop her but I don’t know how.

  Melissa looked angry now. ‘I texted her earlier. I texted them all, to tell them about my stupid painting and the gallery. And nobody replied at first and they probably didn’t want to because they didn’t want to spoil everything. As if it matters. As if a stupid painting and a stupid gallery matters!’

  ‘It does matter!’ Adam said. His heart was pounding. ‘Of course it matters. That’s why we get to be alive! We’re supposed to do the things that make us happy and … live! Don’t ever say it doesn’t matter because it does.’

  Clotho’s face swam into his mind; the gentleness there when she talked about her work. Every thread … every single human soul is precious. How many more threads were going to be cut on a whim? How much longer was Morta going to get away with this? Rage boiled inside him. He’d felt paralysed before, knowing that Morta was killing people and not knowing what to do about it. Until now the deaths had felt far away and although he’d felt guilty he hadn’t seen the effect of the deaths. Now in the face of Melissa’s grief … He wanted to kill Morta and Darian and whoever or whatever had been stupid enough to let them get into positions of power.

  The bell rang for the end of lunch. Melissa wiped her cheeks. ‘I have to go to work tomorrow. It’s going to be a nightmare.’ She hesitated. ‘Can we do something tonight? Just go and hang out somewhere? We could go back to Petrograd.’