by Lee Monroe
‘Yeah?’ She shifted in her seat. ‘Thanks.’
‘So,’ I leaned forward, cupping one knee with my hands, ‘you’ve just moved to the area?’
‘No.’
‘Oh. Only you’ve just started here. I thought maybe—’
‘Yeah, well,’ Polly looked down at her hands. ‘I kind of … well, my parents kind of … well, they’re not too keen on schools.’
‘Oh.’ I shrugged. ‘You’ve been home-schooled?’
‘No.’ Her tone, again, was flat. ‘Not really. I had what you might call a sporadic education.’ Her words dared me and I was intrigued.
‘Not so sporadic surely,’ I said, ‘with vocabulary like that?’
‘Good one,’ she said, and for the first time she smiled. She really was beautiful, I realized. Pearly-white teeth, rose-coloured lips. She looked young, too, all of a sudden. More vulnerable … more human.
‘So,’ I hugged my knee tighter, wondering if I was up to this challenge. ‘You’re obviously clever. And you’ve decided to come to school to do your A levels. Work towards a future?’
I couldn’t believe I was talking like this. Like a teacher. Or my mum or something.
Polly shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I guess I hate my parents and coming here means I get away from them.’
I tried not to smile. ‘You hate your parents? Why?’
‘They’re stupid. And they’re afraid.’ She sat back, again daring me.
‘Afraid of what?’
‘Of me.’ Her smile was quite cat-like. Powerful. She was unnerving me. There was a pause while I struggled to respond, but Polly broke the silence. ‘And my brother. They’re afraid of both of us.’
I remained speechless. Polly was holding court here. Totally in control. I began to doubt Mrs Connelly’s faith in me. I hadn’t a clue how to talk to this girl.
‘Your brother?’ I prompted, cocking my head, aiming for reassuring.
‘My brother, Ade.’ All of a sudden Polly was warming up. Her whole demeanour was softer. She sat forward. ‘He’s older than me. He’s training as an electrician. But that’s just to get some money in the bank. He doesn’t care about it. He’s been doing a few jobs, you know, on the quiet. One day very soon he’ll have enough saved up to leave home for good. Somewhere a long way from here. He’s going to take me with him.’ Her eyes gleamed.
‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘I thought you wanted to be here in college?’
‘For now, yeah. But as soon as Ade gets his new place I’m out of here.’ She sniffed, pulling the lapels of her leather jacket close, over her chest. ‘This is just an amusing way to pass the time.’
‘Polly.’ I hesitated. I wanted to strike a balance between friendly and serious. ‘If you stay at college you’ll get qualifications and then you can create your own future. You won’t need your brother to do that for you. And you’ll make friends here. You’ll have a life outside your home. It might make—’
‘You think,’ Polly leaned forward, her expression hard again, ‘you think I care about that.’ She pursed her lips, studying my reaction. ‘I have Ade to look after me. Why would I need a degree? Or friends?’
This girl was odd. Weird. Intense. And there was something about her I recognized. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I had never seen her before, yet she looked familiar.
‘Well,’ I persevered, ‘until then, until you move away with Ade, I’m here to help you. Anything you need advice on. Come to me.’ I smiled somewhat falsely.
‘There is something.’ Polly ran her zip up and down her jacket without taking her eyes off me. ‘I’m a little worried about Ade. I think he needs to get out more.’ She smiled a sugary smile. ‘You seem cool. And you’re only a little younger than him. Ade’s kind of shy around girls. Would you mind if I set you two up on a date?’
I resisted telling her that if her brother was as strange as her I would pass, thank you. Instead I pretended to look flattered, even managed to blush a little.
‘I don’t think my boyfriend would like that,’ I told her, but smiling. ‘Maybe I’ll ask one of my friends.’ I thought of the twins, Ashley and Emma, an idea forming in my head. ‘I tell you what. If I can find your brother a date, will you promise to give college a proper shot, for a term at least?’
Polly flared her nostrils, clearly disliking the switch of power here, but she seemed to be thinking about it.
‘Well,’ I said subtly glancing at my watch. It was nearly five-thirty and I’d had enough of Wednesday Addams for one day. ‘What do you say?’
Polly shrugged. ‘OK. But you set the date up first, yeah?’
‘Sure.’ I picked up my satchel. ‘I’ll try. Got a photo of your brother handy?’
She raised a finely plucked eyebrow before digging her hand into her bag and drawing out her phone. I watched as she scrolled through photos.
‘Here.’ She held out her phone and I took it from her. My eyes widened. Ade was like a Titian god. Short auburn hair, and eyes like his sister’s, though sharper and more flinty. He was squinting into the sun, giving him a cruel expression. Arrogant. His skin was tawny, lightly freckled like Polly’s, and his shoulders were bare, showing the tops of taut muscled arms. Ade was kind of devastating.
I swallowed, finally looking back up at Polly.
‘He’s …’
‘Beautiful,’ she replied, snatching back the phone and pressing a button so that the picture disappeared. ‘Shame you don’t want him.’
Ignoring that, I reached over the desk for a pen and scribbled down some digits on a piece of paper, which I held out to her.
‘My number. Text me that picture and I’ll see what I can do.’
‘I’ve picked out the classes I want to take,’ Polly said calmly, taking my number and plumbing it into her phone. ‘But if it’s boring here, or if anyone gets on my case, I’m going. I don’t need qualifications to do what I want to do.’ Giving me a cryptic look she waltzed past me and out of the room.
CHAPTER SIX
Luca was getting used to Anna Jonas’s cooking. He was bemused by the frozen peas and the oven chips: grainy and synthetic in texture but curiously pleasant once they were doused in the bright-red tangy sauce she put on the table at every meal.
But this evening even a king’s banquet would have left him cold. He couldn’t get the sight of that delicate necklace, sticky with blood, out of his mind.
‘You’re very quiet, Luca,’ said Anna, flicking a look at Jane, who seemed similarly distracted. ‘Bad day at the office?’
Luca was bewildered by her words. He turned to Jane.
‘It’s an expression that middle-aged people use,’ she said, rolling her eyes at her mother. She took Luca’s hand under the table and squeezed it. In return he pressed his thigh against hers.
‘Are you OK?’ she whispered.
Luca mustered a weak smile. He realized that the whole family was looking at him in concern now.
‘I’m just tired. I think I underestimated how exhausting clearance work can be.’ He smiled. ‘Or how draining.’
‘You’re out at the old army training ground aren’t you?’ Jack Jonas dropped his serviette on his empty plate. ‘A lot of grisly equipment out there. Place has been deserted for a decade at least.’
‘It’s haunted, that place,’ Dot put in matter-of-factly. As usual the last to finish her meal, she speared a chip with her fork, dipping it daintily in tomato sauce. ‘That’s what Danny in my class said anyhow. His dad was in the army.’
‘It’s not haunted,’ Anna said sharply, rising from the table. ‘That’s silly nonsense.’ Neither Dot nor my father had any memory of the danger we had been in at the training ground all that time ago. The time Evan – or Raphael as he really was – had tried to kill the Jonas family to avenge his father’s death. There was a pointed silence, though Dot was oblivious.
‘His dad said they used to think they saw these weird foxes, only they were bigger, like giant foxes, and they had weird-coloured eyes and so
metimes they turned human, or something …’ Dot trailed off a little doubtfully.
But Luca felt a stir of recognition. He had heard of this creature in Nissilum mythology. A large and malevolent animal, half fox, half human. Like a werewolf, its metamorphosis from fox to human was dependent on environment. Not on the full moon, but on temperature. This fox thrived on heat. As the climate grew warmer it kept its human form. In the dead of night, when the temperature dropped, it was an animal once more. Vicious, hungry, and craving not just human blood, but the human soul too. Ulfred, Luca’s father, used to speak of these creatures’ particular rivalry with werewolves. Their sense of superiority. They considered themselves more agile, more intelligent, less vulnerable to human weakness. The species had a bent to evil that could not be diluted. There were none on Nissilum. They didn’t pass the test, as it were.
‘Giant foxes?’ Beside him Jane snorted, though she was still holding on to his hand. ‘Whoever heard of giant evil foxes?’
Luca kept his grip on her hand steady, careful not to betray his creeping sense of unease. The necklace in blood. And now Dot’s innocent reminder of what still lurked out there.
‘Want to go and hang out in the attic?’ Jane asked, startling him as she cut in to his thoughts.
‘Yes, you two go on up,’ said Anna, swiping Dot’s plate off the table and putting it into the dishwasher.
‘Thank you for the delicious meal,’ said Luca. Out of sheer habit he gave a small deferential bow towards Anna. He was aware that this was a source of amusement to the family, but years of ingrained etiquette back on Nissilum made it feel odd not to show respect towards his elders.
‘Come on, Prince Charming,’ said Jane, pushing him gently towards the door. ‘We need to have some alone time.’
Jane was waiting for him when he got back from his shower. She sat crosslegged on the bed, her dark hair falling about her shoulders as she bent over a textbook. He smiled at her childish socks, red with white stars. Jane had changed a little physically since he’d first met her. She’d been beautiful then, with a delicate, sensitive kind of beauty, her grey eyes, large and sad, her body changing into a woman’s, giving her a kind of endearing awkwardness. But now, now she had a different kind of allure. More assured. Graceful in the way she moved. Her shoulders were a little broader and there was a curve to her hips where she had once been skinny. He took a moment to take her in. And to feel how lucky he was to have got her back. And then, underneath this feeling, there was a sense of fear. That she would be taken away from him, or outgrow him. He had been at pains to let her know that her going to college made him proud, but in truth he felt twinges of jealousy when she glossed over certain details of her day. When she mentioned names that he hadn’t heard before. He wondered whether he should stop working for Pete and join her there. His own education had fallen by the wayside. But he had to repay her parents for taking him in and, besides, he wanted to provide for Jane, sooner rather than later.
She looked up, finally detecting his presence.
‘Hey,’ she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. ‘How long have you been standing there?’
‘Not long.’ He smiled, tightening the towel around his waist. ‘What’s that you’re reading?’
‘Oh, just some notes I made today.’ She leaned back against the pillows. ‘My first day as student counsellor. Mrs Connelly wants me to mentor this new girl. So I met her after my classes. Really strange kid.’
Luca flopped down on the bed beside her, adjusting his towel again.
‘Don’t bother on my account,’ Jane said as she reached out and touched his damp skin. ‘Nice abs, by the way.’
Luca laughed, blushing a little. ‘Don’t change the subject, Jonas,’ he told her in a mock-stern manner, and hiding the desire he had felt when she’d touched him.
She sighed. ‘OK. Well, this girl, Polly, sits in front of me. So defensive and angry. She obviously thought I was a dork, at first anyway. And it turns out she couldn’t care less about studying. I have a feeling her family are travellers or something. At any rate she despises them. Can’t wait to leave home. Coming to college is her solution. That and running away with her older brother.’ Jane paused. ‘She tried to set me up with him too.’
Luca tensed instinctively. ‘She what?’
‘Don’t worry,’ Jane nestled her head in the crook of his neck. ‘I told her I had a boyfriend.’ She laughed lightly. ‘As if I could be interested when I have you.’
‘I’m almost reassured,’ said Luca dryly. Again he hid his true feelings. The thought of another guy hitting on Jane made him uncharacteristically tense, jealous all of a sudden. He was determined never to reveal this to her. In his mind, jealousy was a coarse and pointless emotion.
Jane ran her fingers down his bare arm, causing his nerve endings to flutter. A feeling of total peace came over him for the first time that day. As her fingers arrived at his hand he grabbed them, then gently lifted her hand and kissed it.
She stroked his hair. ‘You’ve had a tiring day. And I’m droning on about some angry teenager. I’m sorry.’
Luca shook his head. He really didn’t want to tell Jane about his day. Particularly not about the necklace he’d found. There was probably an innocent explanation for that, he tried to tell himself. It wasn’t necessary to drag her in to it.
‘I like hearing you talk,’ he said instead. ‘It has this incredible calming effect on me.’ He glanced up at her, narrowing his eyes comically. ‘Except for the bits about other guys taking you out. That tends to do the opposite.’
‘Good. I’m glad you’re not sick of me already.’ She leaned in closer to him. ‘But seriously, I want to know about your work with Pete. It must be awful being back there.’
‘Yeah. It’s … well, it’s not so bad,’ he said. ‘I mean, it’s so cold and damp and abandoned, and the work is tough.’ He bit his lip. Omitting the most important detail of the day was harder than he’d thought.
‘What is it?’ Jane pulled away from him, her eyes sweeping his face. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me, I know it.’
He returned her gaze, on the brink of denial, but something about her anxious expression told him that honesty was the best policy.
‘I found something,’ he said then. ‘In one of the huts, on the floor. Lying there like it had been wrenched from its owner.’
‘What?’ Jane drew her hands up to her neck, afraid.
‘A silver chain – a necklace.’ He let out a breath.
‘Is that all?’ She visibly slumped in relief. ‘I thought you were going to say you’d found a severed head or someone’s arm—’
‘It was lying in fresh blood,’ Luca continued, cutting through her. ‘The necklace was lying in blood.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
I upturned my backpack, knowing my bike lock was in there somewhere. Heat spread through my face, coming up from my neck, as I rifled through the various bits of rubbish lying on the corridor floor. At last I saw the lock, half trapped in my purse. I grabbed it and quickly gathered up my things and stuffed them back in my backpack.
‘Hey,’ said a gruff voice behind me as I got to my feet. ‘You got my brother a date yet?’
I turned, flushed, and forced myself to smile at Polly, even though I was irritated. It was nine a.m. and mornings were never my strong suit.
‘Hey.’ I slung my backpack over my shoulder. ‘Good to see you here.’
‘Well?’ she persisted.
‘Well, not yet,’ I said, flustered. ‘But today. Today I’m having lunch with a couple of people.’ I glanced anxiously out of the door, spotting my unlocked bike resting against the wall.
‘Huh,’ said Polly, watching me. ‘Not quite so interested in me today?’
I frowned. ‘Of course I am. It’s just I need to lock up my bike.’ I gestured outside. ‘Sorry, I’m a bit distracted.’
She nodded, smiling a little unpleasantly. She looked different today. She’d let her hair dry naturally and it hu
ng in thick red curls down to her waist. Her dress was black and short and tight, and her legs were bare and startlingly white. On her feet she wore green Doc Marten boots. It was a difficult look to pull off for most people, but she looked stunning.
And she knew it. Several male students passed us, their eyes drawn appreciatively to Polly. The girls looked her up and down with suspicious, narrowed eyes.
If she realized they were looking at her, Polly didn’t show it. Instead she stepped a little closer to me, her pretty nose wrinkling at the tip, her pale-blue eyes holding me there.
‘What’s your story,’ she said in a breathy half-whisper, ‘Jane Jonas?’
I couldn’t remember telling her my surname. I guessed she must have asked Mrs Connelly, or another student. It didn’t matter, except for the way she was scrutinizing me now, which was making me uncomfortable.
‘What do you mean?’ I said, as lightly as I could.
She smiled again like a sleepy cat. ‘Oh, don’t mind me,’ she said. ‘I like to freak people out a little. It amuses me.’
‘I’m not freaked out.’ I widened my eyes, just to reinforce the message that she was failing in her mission. ‘Does that disappoint you?’
She shrugged. ‘I can see the panic in your eyes.’
I swallowed, a familiar feeling coming back to me. Intimidation. I hadn’t felt that since I was face to face with Sarah Forrest, the school bully who had tormented me three years earlier. She had made it her personal mission to give me a nervous breakdown – and very nearly succeeded. I’d been taken out of school and Mum had taught me at home. I took a deep breath, determined not to go back there.
‘OK, Polly,’ I told her breezily. ‘I have things to do today. If there is nothing I can help you with then I’ll see you later.’ I checked my watch. ‘I’ll come and find you at about three p.m. I might have a date for your brother by then.’
At once her face lit up. ‘Cool,’ she said. ‘But just one thing …’
I shrugged good-naturedly. ‘OK. What’s that?’