by Lucy Inglis
The London Stone was embedded into the wall of an ugly 1970s office block, an undignified place to rest. It was sealed in by a plastic window and iron bars. The streets were deserted; everyone had rushed up to the cathedral to see the dragons.
‘How do we get to it?’ Gamble scratched his head.
Lily squared her shoulders. ‘Okay, cover me.’ She knelt down as the others crowded around her, facing out. She took a deep breath and grabbed the two nearest bars, praying she still had enough strength left. Gripping tight, she pulled . . . and felt the iron begin to give. Gritting her teeth, she tore the bars, metal squealing, down to the pavement and started on the next two, her shoulders screaming. Then she slammed her hand straight through the plastic window and pulled the stone out through the sharp shards, her shredded skin healing almost immediately.
‘Come on! Help me!’ she said to the others. Gamble shoved his hands inside and they tipped the large, square block of stone forward, out of its cage. Staggering upright, they carried it between them. Felix ran into the road and stopped the traffic while Lily and Gamble struggled across the road and up the steps of the modern station.
‘Can you feel it?’ Gamble shouted over the sound of their horns.
Lily, jaw tight, nodded. The stone was getting lighter. By the time they reached the top of the steps, it barely weighed anything at all.
A rail worker walked over to them as they got to the top step and walked into the huge station. Felix held up the dog-eared card on the chain around his neck.
‘I wit’ da City. Important works, dey is needed here.’
‘But—’
They ignored him and walked on, to where the original location of the stone was marked on the floor of the station in a mural. The stone seemed to weigh almost nothing as they placed it carefully into its rightful position over the brass outline. Yet they had only just pulled their fingers from beneath it when with a great bang the floor gave way and the stone was suddenly embedded a few inches into it. Cracks radiated out across the station floor and Lily, Felix and Gamble, along with the rail guard and the few commuters left in the station, all doubled over at the noise, hands over their ears.
The newspapers reported it the next day as a sonic boom, perhaps from some meteor. It had happened as reporters had been feeding live from the City, where four large illegal reptiles had escaped from a penthouse flat above the new shopping mall, and the noise had frightened the animals away. But one website said that they had not fled the scene, but watched, then retreated slowly, heading across the rooftops in different directions. Everyone on a bus on Cheapside had been taken sick, and one man in a Porsche, but they were all expected to recover. A mysterious hound had been seen in the grounds of St Paul’s, and a bloodied woman clinging to the drinking fountain, but someone had been leading a ghost walk at the time and no one thought any more of it. That afternoon, the sky above London was astonishingly beautiful, and the sunset streaked away towards the horizon. People took photographs and posted them across the internet.
Lily, Felix and Gamble emerged from the station into the spectacular sunset. Slowly they walked back to St Paul’s. Lily looked around her. Felix’s cart lay on its side in the churchyard. He righted it, organising his brushes. A man on the corner hailed a taxi and the number fifteen bus rumbled past. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
Gamble turned to them. ‘Well, I got to go. Got a place in an ’ostel tonight. Up north London.’ Lily gave his arm a hug. He nodded. ‘Second sober night in fifteen years. I en’t enjoyin’ it much, truth be told.’
‘Stick with it.’ Lily smiled. ‘After all, the City needs you.’
‘What, old mentals like me?’
Her smile became a grin. ‘It needs all of us.’
Gamble shook Felix’s hand and walked away towards the Tube. Felix was surprised when Lily threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. He patted her back.
‘Not enough time,’ she whispered. ‘There wasn’t enough.’
He nodded, looking at her as she dropped back on her heels. ‘Never enough time, jubee. Never enough.’
‘But it was my fault. I killed the power and—’
He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘What will be, is. He always knew.’ He held up her arm, studying the talisman. ‘So, de Chaos is beaten, for now. What will be my good fight, hey?’ He tugged a curl of Lily’s hair, then turned and pushed his cart away.
Lily watched him go. ‘Felix?’ she shouted as he reached the other side of the road.
For a moment he didn’t reply, pulling out a brush and making a sweep across the pavement. ‘Yes, jubee?’
‘Will I be seeing you?’ she yelled across the traffic as the light turned green.
He twirled his brush, laughing, gold tooth visible even so far away. ‘Of course, jubee!’ he yelled back. ‘I de Cleaner!’
Two days later, Lily was lying on the sofa. The television was on, but she wasn’t watching it. Her father was working in his study with the door open. Lily’s laptop was open on the coffee table, a dozen searches for government conspiracies and the Eldritche in the browser. Lily had even been following local London news sites, but to no avail. They had all disappeared without a trace. However, the #cityofhalves tag had been picked up by the media, and taken on to represent not only the abandoned FutureMed conference, but the social and financial inequality rife throughout the city. If only they knew.
The FutureMed story had made the front pages. Apparently, a ‘planted’ computer linked to a global group of hacktivists had been found onsite and was being tested by forensics. Lily’s lip curled at that. The only prints on it would be hers and Regan’s. They knew where to find her if they wanted her, but somehow she knew they wouldn’t come. She’d uploaded the entire story, from her own perspective, into a website that could be sent public at any time. They were watching her, she was sure of that, but so far it was a stalemate.
Her inbox pinged. She summoned up the enthusiasm to sit up, cross-legged, pulling the computer on to her lap. It was from Sam: Turn on your chat if you’re there.
Dutifully, Lily signed in.
lilyh: Hey.
Samsays: How ru? Been txting u.
lilyh: Lost my phone.
Samsays: Sup?
lilyh: Nothing.
Samsays: Regan?
Tears threatened again. Lily bit them back; her father was concerned by how much crying she’d been doing. She pushed her fingers between her eyebrows, hard.
lilyh: Yes. And some stuff about my mum that I’m working through.
Samsays: What happened?
They died, that’s what happened.
Lily’s fingers hovered over the keys. The cursor flashed insistently. She could make out each individual pixel on the screen. She was adjusting to her enhanced vision, but the hearing was worse, and she lay awake at night listening to the water rushing in the pipes of the old buildings – flushing, dripping, running away. It was fading gradually, but that made it even worse. Soon there would be nothing left but who she had been before. Small, breakable, alone. She blinked more tears away.
lilyh: It’s complicated.
Samsays: I’ve got time.
Lily sighed. Her father came into the room and patted her hair as he walked past.
‘Are you chatting?’
‘Yes. With Sam.’
‘Send her my best. Why don’t you ask her to come round?’ He put a glass of water on the table beside her.
‘I’ll see her at school tomorrow.’
‘Right.’ His voice was both cautious and weary. The last couple of days had been difficult.
Lily picked up the glass and took a sip.
Samsays: U still there?
lilyh: Yes.
Samsays: So, ur not seeing Regan any more?
The glass shattered in Lily’s hand, spilling water all over the sofa and slicing her palm messily.
Her father cursed and grabbed a tea towel. Lily pushed the computer on to the table and looked down at the mess of glass
and blood in her lap and on the cream sofa. Her father caught her hand in his, turning it over. He frowned. Her skin was clear and unmarked.
‘Where did you cut yourself?’
Lily closed her fingers over her palm. ‘I didn’t.’
He looked at the bloodstain on the cream material.
‘I’m fine,’ she said quietly.
He held on to her hand when she went to tug it away. She pulled harder, breaking his grip easily. He stepped back, looking at her uncertainly.
Lily got to her feet. ‘I’m really sorry, I’ll clear it up.’
‘Lily . . . is there anything you want to tell me?’
She sighed. ‘Like what, Dad?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve read that there are drugs that can make you feel very strong, almost invincible.’
‘Drugs?’ She looked at him. ‘You think I’m on drugs?’
‘I don’t know what to think,’ he said slowly. ‘I thought we were close, but now you barely speak to me. I feel that I don’t know you.’
Lily took the towel from him and began to load the broken glass into it. ‘I’m still the same person. Just . . . things happened, and I’m still trying to work it out.’
‘You know you can talk to me, don’t you? About anything you like?’
‘Yes, Dad.’ Lily tried to smile, taking the broken glass to the dustbin.
The following morning, her father came out of his room into the kitchen holding up two shirts. ‘Which one?’
‘What?’ Lily started out of her trance at the kitchen counter.
‘Which one?’
‘Oh, er . . . the blue one.’
‘They’re both blue.’ He frowned.
‘The bluer one.’ She pointed. ‘Since when did you need my advice?’
He disappeared, coming back buttoning up the shirt. ‘Big meeting today. And the end of the Kalhuna case.’
‘It’s going in her favour, though, isn’t it?’
He didn’t look at her as he fastened the cufflinks. ‘It is, but that doesn’t mean you can ever put yourself in danger again, like you did.’
Lily rolled her eyes. ‘I get it. And wish her luck from me.’
‘Ready for school?’
‘Oh. Yes. S’pose.’
‘I take it that means you aren’t looking forward to going back?’
Lily thought about school. She shrugged. ‘It’ll be fine, I’m sure.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘Do you need to see a doctor, do you think? I could book it, perhaps get you in—’
‘No! No doctors.’
‘Fine, fine. No doctors.’ He smiled.
Lily slid down from the chair. It was still freezing outside, but these days she barely noticed it. Time was passing in a blur of nothingness and feverish futile internet searches. Three days? Four?
She shouldered her bag. ‘I’ll get going, then,’ she said.
He was still watching her closely. ‘Lily, I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but you will feel better. You’ll get over him.’
She looked down. ‘No, I won’t.’
‘What makes you say that? You said yourself you barely knew him. I’m just trying to understand.’
Lily blew out a deep breath, unwilling to stir through the ashes inside her chest. ‘Remember when we talked about human rights being your thing? Being what mattered to you more than anything?’
‘Anything except you, yes.’
She nodded. ‘Well, he showed me something that mattered to me. That there are people out there worth fighting for. And it became the only thing that mattered. Except him. He showed me the world where I belonged, and the person I belonged to. And now he’s gone.’
Ed stood up, taking her shoulders in his hands. ‘Lily, what you’re feeling . . . it’s grief. But no one’s dead. You’ll get over him.’
She shrugged his hands away and turned for the door. ‘Please stop talking, Dad. I’ll see you later.’
The journey to school was long, with two changes of Tube and a walk. Outside the gates, Lily looked up at the modern building, weak sunshine bouncing off the large windows. Her heart sank. She squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath.
Inside, she went to the cloakroom and found her locker. She pulled off her coat, and was hanging it up just as a girl called Sarah came up. ‘Hi, Lily! How are you? Why haven’t you been replying to any of my messages? And you’ve totally disappeared from Facebook. Did you delete your profile? Oh. My. God . . . is that a tattoo?’
Lily looked at her arm where her shirt had fallen back. She pulled her elbows into her sides and yanked the cuff down. Sarah grabbed her wrist, pushing the sleeve back up. ‘Oh. My. God . . . It so is!’
Lily tugged her arm away.
‘It’s amazing. Trust you to have something so gorgeous. Wait until Laura sees it. She is going to die.’
‘Can we not talk about it?’
‘Where did you get it? Did anyone go with you? What was it like? Did it hurt? Laura said you were seeing this hot guy with loads of tattoos. Did he go with you?’
Lily pushed her hair behind her ears, rubbing her forehead. She opened her bag and pulled out her textbooks.
Sarah talked all the way to the classroom door, then left for her own lesson. Lily held on to her books and said nothing, grateful for being able to sit down in silence when the teacher arrived. She opened her book, the figures falling into place in front of her eyes, reassuring her with their certainty.
The time passed quickly. Lily completed the two problems and drew a line under them, her pencil resting between her hands. She began to sketch a vague shape.
The teacher walked down the row of desks.
‘And I’d like to know your inspiration, Lily, for that particular solution.’ He placed his hand on her shoulder. Lily flinched. She looked down at the page, seeing a large Gothic ‘H’ on the paper.
Ten minutes later, she dropped her head back in relief and pulled her papers together as the break bell rang.
A gaggle of girls waited by the lockers. ‘Lily!’ Laura exclaimed.
The other girls watched her. ‘Show them your tattoo, Lily,’ Sarah said excitedly.
Lily reluctantly pulled up her sleeve. The girls gathered around to look. Laura sniffed. ‘Not very original, is it? A lily? Why didn’t you get something cool, like his?’
Touching her thumb to the tattoo, Lily pulled her arm into her side. ‘I got what I was given.’
Sam bowled up. ‘Hey, guys.’
‘Lily’s showing us her tattoo,’ Sarah said.
Sam frowned. The other girls moved off. Taking Lily’s arm gently, she examined the tiny water lily. ‘Very pretty,’ she said at last.
Lily shrugged. ‘It kind of happened by accident.’
‘With Regan?’
She nodded.
Abruptly, Sam leant forward and hugged Lily. ‘It’ll be okay, you know.’
A single tear streaked down Lily’s cheek, quickly brushed off. ‘I wish you were right,’ she whispered.
At lunch, Lily pulled on her coat and she and Sam headed out of the school gates to their favourite place for lunch, a tiny cafe a ten-minute walk away. It was in an old shop, the windows steamed up and the tables covered with black-and-white plastic cloths.
‘Now, then, you two,’ the plump owner smiled through her bright red lipstick. ‘Same as usual?’
‘Yes please, Margaret.’ Lily took a seat in the window and waited for her sandwich and tea, lost in thought.
Sam sat down next to her. ‘Bit bloody parky, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose it is. I don’t seem to feel the cold much at the moment.’
‘Yeah, you feel really warm. I noticed earlier. You’re not ill, are you?’
‘No.’
‘So, tell me. Everything.’
Margaret put two cups of tea in front of them in thick earthenware mugs. Sam picked up hers and blew on it.
Lily pulled her cuffs over her hands. ‘I’m not sure I can. I don’t know where to start.’
‘Start wherever you like.’
‘He left and he won’t be coming back.’ Lily bit her lip. ‘And that’s it, really. That’s the short version.’
‘Where did he go?’
Lily shrugged and looked away.
‘Wow, you really liked him, didn’t you?’
Lily swallowed, then nodded, once.
‘He was amazing-looking.’
‘It wasn’t that . . .’ Lily looked away. ‘He . . . I can’t explain.’
‘Lily, did something happen?’
‘Yes. Something, lots of things. Terrible things,’ Lily said suddenly, picking at a rip in the plastic tablecloth.
‘He didn’t hurt you did he? Because if he did, it doesn’t matter where he is, I’ll hunt him down and kill him.’ Sam’s voice was deadly serious.
Lily couldn’t help but laugh. ‘He wouldn’t. You don’t need to hunt him down.’
‘Good. But I’m still worried about you.’ Sam frowned.
‘I’ll be okay,’ Lily said slowly. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.
‘You can talk to me, about whatever . . . anything. You know that?’
She nodded hesitantly, still picking at the table.
‘So, just try?’
Lily waited as Margaret put their sandwiches down and returned to the little kitchen at the back of the cafe. Sam took a large mouthful and watched Lily, waiting.
‘Would you believe me if I said there was more to . . .’ Lily stumbled over his name ‘. . . more to him than met the eye?’
Sam chewed and swallowed. ‘Er, I think that was pretty obvious. To everyone.’
‘He said you all looked at him like he was a freak.’
‘Did we? Freaking hot, maybe. I mean, everyone was talking about that. Laura literally could not get over it. She’s still talking about it now. Keep going, though.’
‘He worked in his family business, they’d been doing it for generations. And what they did is secret, but really important, for London. For all of us.’
‘Secret like what?’
Lily sighed. ‘That doesn’t matter. But it was sort of like security. And . . .’ She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. There’s just . . . I can’t explain.’