by D. J. McCune
As if reading his mind Caitlyn took his arm. ‘There were lots of people in there who’ll be happy about Susanna, once they get used to the idea. Especially if they have lots of daughters instead of sons. And people love Heinrich. They’ll help him if they can. Maybe your dad will let Chloe get Marked!’
Adam snorted. ‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’
‘It only takes a few of us,’ Caitlyn said softly. ‘Just a few and then a few more, and then a few more. And suddenly it’s normal, like women have always been Lumen. The way it was a long time ago.’
‘I hope so,’ Adam said – and he meant it.
Caitlyn hesitated. ‘I thought … we could get betrothed, because we get on OK. Da says you have to get on with the person you’ll be betrothed to and never mind about their Keystones or you’ll be miserable. So I thought if we got on OK we could get betrothed. But I didn’t know about the girl in your school. And if I can be a Luman, I’d rather do that first. So … we’re probably better just being friends.’
‘That sounds good.’ Adam smiled, relieved and just a tiny bit disappointed. Caitlyn was brave and fierce and gorgeous. Life would never have been dull with her. But there was plenty of time to think about betrothals. If she wasn’t giving up hope on getting Marked, why was he giving up on school? Maybe there was still time to change his father’s mind. It wasn’t too late. And if he could stay at school … he could keep seeing Melissa.
He followed Caitlyn back to the castle, feeling less gloomy.
The fallout from the Marking ball was far-reaching. It started with Adam getting an earful from his mother as soon as they reached home, mainly for drawing attention to himself by dancing with Susanna. Nathanial stayed quiet but as usual Auntie Jo leapt to Adam’s defence. ‘You should be proud of him! Would you rather the poor girl had been left in the middle of the dance floor on her own? It’s never nice to have unfriendly eyes on you in such a public manner, is it Elise? You of all people should know that!’
Elise had stormed off, furious and tearful. Instead of feeling upset, Adam felt a mixture of sympathy and frustration. He alone of his brothers and sister knew what Auntie Jo was getting at. Standing by Nathanial after his brother’s suicide had probably been the bravest thing Elise had ever done. She had proved that she was capable of ignoring convention when it suited her – and facing condemnation for it. The trouble was she had spent every moment of her life since trying to be the perfect Luman wife, as if she could cast off the memory of what they had done.
But not everyone shared her feelings of dismay. Just the day after Susanna’s historic Marking, the rumours were already coming in. Uncle Paddy called, alone and unannounced, just before dinner. Instead of stopping off in the kitchen for his usual banter he went straight into Nathanial’s study and stayed there for quite some time.
If he’d hoped for a discreet visit and exit he was disappointed. When he and Nathanial returned to the kitchen they were greeted by Adam and the rest of the Mortsons, aware that something was up. Auntie Jo was sitting at the table, drinking one of her green smoothies. She chugged down a mouthful and waggled her glass at Uncle Paddy in mock threat. ‘Now Patrick, don’t make me do something that both of us will regret. We know this isn’t a social visit. What’s going on?’
Uncle Paddy looked at Nathanial, who nodded. ‘I suppose there’s no point making a secret of it. It seems that Heinrich has been busy today. Three more girls were Marked early this morning.’
There was a horrified gasp from Elise. She had been standing at the stove stirring a pan of sauce. Now she threw down the wooden spoon. ‘What is this madness? Has he lost his mind entirely?’
‘Who were they?’ It was Chloe who had spoken. She looked petrified – and excited.
‘Va-t’en!’ His mother’s voice was almost a shriek. ‘Out! You have one hour of piano practice!’
‘But I was going to do it after dinner –’ Chloe protested.
‘Get out! Maintenant!’ Elise looked like a mad woman. Her eyes were savage.
For a moment, it seemed that Chloe was going to refuse to go. At last she turned and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.
‘Are you going to throw me out too, Elise?’ Auntie Jo’s voice was hard.
Elise ignored her, turning her fury on Uncle Paddy. ‘Do you see what you have done? Coming here with your stories of Heinrich’s stupidity! I will not hear this in my house!’
Uncle Paddy was usually the most good-humoured man that Adam had ever met but something flinty came into his face. His voice was sharp. ‘Do you think not talking about it will make it go away? And do you think your house is the only one to be affected by this? I have daughters myself, including Caitlyn, who’s a force of nature at the best of times!’
‘Chloe is to be betrothed to your son!’ Elise had thrown her usual impeccable courtesy to the winds. ‘Do you really wish to fill her head with stories of Markings and swooping? Do you wish to jeopardise everything? Your son is making a good match!’
‘And your daughter is making an excellent match.’ Uncle Paddy was bristling with quiet fury. ‘Ciaron is a High Luman’s son. You’d do well to remember that.’
Elise blinked, seeming to remember where she was. She breathed in slowly, then turned and walked out of the room, her heels stabbing across the stone floor.
Uncle Paddy turned to Auntie Jo. ‘Are you going to go mad now? Every other woman I’ve spoken to today has gone bananas at me, so you might as well jump on the bandwagon.’
Auntie Jo smiled. ‘Maybe I’ll jump into the Hinterland instead and take off to Germany.’
‘Enough, Jo!’ Nathanial finally broke his silence. He looked like he’d been flattened by a truck.
Auntie Jo raised an eyebrow. ‘Nathanial, I love you dearly, but you are my brother, not my father. I wasn’t asking for your permission.’ She turned back to Uncle Paddy. ‘You never answered Chloe’s question. Who were the girls who were Marked?’
‘They were all from families with no sons. One from Italy, one from Australia, one from Canada.’
That made sense. Adam hardly dared to breathe. It hadn’t been a one-off. Caitlyn was right – there were other people who supported what Heinrich had done. What was it she had said? It only takes a few of us. Just a few more and then a few more, and then a few more. And suddenly it’s normal. The question was: would it become normal for Adam’s family?
‘Were any of them High Lumen?’ Aron was frowning. He didn’t seem thrilled about the whole thing. This didn’t really come as a shock to Adam – his eldest brother was a traditionalist.
‘No. All minor families.’ Uncle Paddy hesitated. ‘In fact, the High Lumen are having to decide what to do about them.’
‘Heinrich is still the Chief Curator.’ There was an edge to Auntie Jo’s voice. ‘Are you saying High Lumen should oppose him?’
‘Of course he’s not saying that, Jo.’ Nathanial sounded impatient. ‘But if the Concilium don’t back Heinrich, they will simply declare no confidence in him and appoint a new Chief Curator.’
‘But who would they pick instead?’ Luc was sitting up straight in his chair, looking alert.
‘Not Darian?’ Adam blurted out, then hesitated when they all turned towards him. ‘They wouldn’t make him Chief Curator, would they?’
Auntie Jo snorted. ‘I’d like to think the Concilium aren’t that stupid. They’re supposed to be our brightest and best. I’m sure they’ll pick a more worthy candidate.’
She was trying to be comforting, Adam knew that. So why wasn’t he feeling more reassured?
Chapter 18
ncle Paddy’s visit left Adam deeply uneasy. Once he had said goodbye he retreated to his bedroom, away from all the frayed nerves and short tempers. Part of him was thrilled. If Heinrich kept Marking girls then maybe, eventually, his father would cave in and allow Chloe to be a Luman. It helped that Nathanial was so close to Uncle Paddy – and if anyone could wear a stubborn father down it was Caitlyn. He tried to imagine the s
cenes unfolding in the McVeys’ household and shuddered.
But the second bit of news … the fact that the Concilium could turn on Heinrich. That bit wasn’t so comforting. Auntie Jo’s respect for the Curators was, in Adam’s opinion, more generous than they deserved. After all, Darian had managed to weasel his way into the Concilium. They couldn’t be that smart or they would see what a treacherous toad he really was.
He was relieved to be going to school the next morning – until he was sitting on the bus and remembered that he was going to have to face Melissa for the first time since their break-up. If there was any happy side effect of complete meltdown in the Luman world, it was the fact that he had been temporarily distracted from his misery. Now it returned with a vengeance, served up with a side order of nerves. How was he supposed to play this?
Breaking up was bad enough but he still had to see Melissa every day. Part of him was glad of that – maybe at least seeing her would give some comfort – but how was he supposed to react? He wished he could have asked Luc for advice but he knew his brother would only have smirked and made some crude comments about things you shouldn’t do in your own nest.
Adam’s fears were confirmed when he walked into registration. Melissa didn’t even look at him, while Mr Fenton went into one of his patented rants, covering a wide range of topics from scruffy uniform to the perils of saliva exchange. The knife in his heart gave a sharp twist. So this was how it was going to be. He thought of all the things they used to talk about and laugh about and the knife twisted deeper. There was no one else he could have those kind of conversations with. He hadn’t just lost his girlfriend; he’d lost his friend.
And that was how it was. Melissa avoided him as much as possible but when they occasionally ran into each other (once literally in the doorway of their form room) there was nothing but awkwardness, pained glances and strained smiles. He knew she still cared about him – sometimes he caught her watching him in registration or felt her eyes on him in biology – but she had backed off. He tried to talk to her a couple of times but she killed the conversation and moved on. Eventually Adam took the hint. She had taken the brutal but painful option of treating him like a splinter – pulling him out of her life in one swift move, rather than leaving him to fester.
He was back to spending most of his free time in the library with his friends. They were as sympathetic as they knew how to be – which meant they weren’t very sympathetic at all. None of them had ever been dumped by the girl they loved. As far as he knew, none of them had ever been in love with any real, live girl. Still, at least they didn’t torture him with talk of Melissa.
It helped that the Japan trip was looming on the horizon. The first week back after the break-up was torture but by the Friday morning Adam realised that in a week’s time he would be heading to the airport. They were flying out at lunchtime on Friday, to arrive in Japan on Saturday morning local time. The plan was to spend five days in Tokyo, then travel north to a place called Hachimana for one night and day to visit one of Murai’s many enterprises, then return to Tokyo on Thursday night. They would have three last days of sightseeing and travel home on Sunday night Japanese time, meaning they would be back in London on Sunday afternoon.
Adam was finding it hard to get excited. Too much had happened. His teachers were piling on ridiculous amounts of homework to make up for their week away, even though it would be during the half-term holiday. He spent his lunchtimes ploughing through chemistry and biology notes, writing revision cards for exams he would never sit. He told himself it was all part of his cover story, so no one would suspect he was leaving – but secretly he was happier thinking about oxidation and evolution. It helped him avoid thinking about Melissa.
The weekend was busy with call-outs and he did his share without complaint, albeit without any real enthusiasm. In between, he alternated between packing clothes and lying on his bed feeling numb. Why did he feel so bad? It wasn’t like he had been able to spend every waking minute with Melissa – far from it. It was just that even when he wasn’t with her, she had been with him, in some small, happy corner of his mind.
His one surprising source of sympathy was Luc. After dinner on Sunday evening, Adam climbed the stairs to his room, planning to listen to some angry music and try and drown out the wailing in his head. When he got there he found Luc had tipped his rucksack out on the bed and was picking through his clothes with complete disdain.
‘How are we even related? You can’t take this stuff. People will think you’re a five-year-old.’
‘Get out of here!’ Adam exploded. He stormed across the room and grabbed his brother’s arms, half pushing and half dragging him towards the door. For a few seconds he had the element of surprise – but Luc was taller and stronger in a lean, wiry sort of way. He pushed Adam away. Adam braced himself for a thump, almost relishing the prospect of a fight.
He was disappointed when Luc held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Easy, tiger! Don’t shoot the messenger.’
Adam glared at him, full of hatred, knowing it wasn’t fair. Luc made everything seem easy – girls, being a Luman; just being alive. ‘What do you want?’
Luc leaned one shoulder against the door frame and folded his arms. ‘To tell you that you’ll be OK.’ For once he wasn’t smirking.
Adam blinked. ‘What are you talking about? I’m fine!’
‘No you’re not. But you will be. It only hurts this badly once. And then you’ll never fall like that again.’
Adam turned away. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘She dumped you, didn’t she? Your girl from Cryptique. Lovely Melissa in the white dress.’ When Adam rounded on him looking murderous he shrugged. ‘What? She’s pretty. And nice. But there are lots of nice, pretty girls out there. The secret is – have fun, then move on. Because one day you’re going to get betrothed, to someone who knows what it’s like to live the way we do. Anyone else until then is just for fun.’
‘Well, if it’s all just fun what do you know about it hurting?’
There was a brief flicker of something in Luc’s eyes. ‘Everyone makes one mistake. I did. But I learned from it. So now I keep it short and sweet. Sunshine and roses.’
Adam stared at him. Luc made it sound so attractive but what he had had with Melissa was special. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing out on.’
‘I know when something is doomed. I even told you to call time and get out of there but you wouldn’t listen. But it had to end – so try and remember that she’s done you a favour.’ Luc raised an eyebrow. ‘Trust me. Love is overrated. You’ll realise that after a few weeks.’
He was almost gone when Adam called after him. ‘Who was she? The girl you liked?’
Luc halted but didn’t look back. ‘Someone a bit like Melissa,’ he said softly. He walked away and a moment later Adam heard his brother’s door close.
And then it was Monday. Four days of school before the trip. He spent registration trying not to stare at Melissa and trying not to listen to Fenton, who was even more hung-over and irritable than normal. He reached the library at break, feeling a kind of weary relief to be there. Dan and Archie were talking in low voices. There was no sign of Spike. ‘What’s up?’
Dan was brushing his fingers through a stack of sunflower seeds, twitchy as a squirrel. ‘We don’t know yet. But there are rumours!’
‘About what?’ Adam yawned. Whatever the latest scandal was, he didn’t care.
‘You haven’t heard?!’
‘Heard what?’ Adam was getting irritated now. He had a sudden feeling of dread. He hoped they weren’t going to tell him Melissa had a new boyfriend. Even thinking about it made him feel slightly sick. Surely she hadn’t forgotten him that quickly?
‘It’s the Beast. He’s not going to Japan. Well, hopefully not.’ Dan looked heavenwards with an expression of deepest longing.
Adam blinked at them stupidly. Archie grinned and kept his voice down. ‘He did something at the weekend. He
was out with his mates and they got in some kind of fight. Only it got a bit mad, the place got smashed up and he got arrested. Someone in my art class was in the same club and saw it. There were loads of police!’
‘And the governors must have heard about it and they’ve called some big meeting,’ Dan said, his voice wobbling with joy. ‘Our form teacher is a governor and she was going on at us this morning, being all mysterious, saying that if we got into trouble this week we could still get pulled from the trip as someone was about to find out! We thought it was just the usual blah-blah-scary-scary but she must have known about him!’
Adam stared at them in disbelief. There was no time to ask questions; footsteps approached and a moment later a grinning Spike was sitting down. ‘I can confirm that, Godzilla aside, Tokyo will be officially Beast-free!’
There was a moment of silence. ‘Yessss!’ Archie hissed, while Dan beamed from ear to ear. ‘Are you sure?’
Spike nodded. ‘Positive. I helped Miss Feswick when her computer kept crashing. I knew they were having a meeting in The Bulb’s office – so I dropped round to see if she needed anything doing. Turned out she did – and we had a little chat. Anyway, the governors came out and then The Bulb came out and bollocked me for nothing, so I scarpered. And then when I logged into his email, Murai’s governor had scanned the final list in and signed it off. The Beast isn’t on it.’
‘What about Weasel?’ Dan was biting his lip. ‘Is he still going?’
Spike shrugged. ‘His name’s there but I doubt it. And even if he does go, what’s he going to do? Without the Beast there to protect him, he’s dead if he tries anything. He’ll be sticking to the teachers like glue. Everyone else hates him.’
‘The Beast has really bad taste in mates,’ Archie said.
Adam snorted. They had no idea. He’d narrowly avoided a run-in with Baz and co. himself. Smashing up nightclubs was the least of their sins. He really hoped they had resisted arrest …