That was weird. She deleted Scarlett and typed in her mum’s name, “Alice”.
Links to several news stories came up on the screen. The headlines were all similar.
“Family die tragically in fire”; “Blaze kills couple and son”; “House burns down, killing three”.
It couldn’t be true. She clicked on the top one.
“A couple and their 11-year-old son were tragically killed in a blaze last night...” it read. “... Firefighters battled to save Alice and Tom Shortt, both 41, and their son Daniel, 11, but sadly none of them survived. The cause of the fire is unknown.”
Scarlett refused to believe it. Her whole family was dead? The date on the story said January 7, 2011, so how could that be? That was almost three years ago and she knew they hadn’t died then, she’d seen them every day since. The reports must be wrong.
But what if it was true? Her heart sank. That was too horrible a thought to imagine.
She read some of the other articles, hoping to find more information, but there was nothing. It seemed suspicious to her. Why had there been no investigation to show what happened? Scarlett’s experience of reading the news told her there should be more details available than this. And why hadn’t she been named? Surely the grieving daughter would have been mentioned. It really was like she didn’t exist. It felt like the more answers she tried to find, the more questions cropped up. It was frustrating.
Scarlett grabbed a notepad and pen she’d taken from the hotel room and jotted the information down. She tried several more searches for information about herself and her family, but there was nothing to be found.
What about if she looked up Alex? Was he in this crazy world? Had he survived the crash? She typed in “Alex Connor”. Nothing. He didn’t exist either. That was interesting. She glanced at the clock and saw she still had 15 minutes of internet access left.
Maybe it was time to try a different line of investigation.
She typed in “wanted”, “London” and “super powers” to see if anything would come up about the teens she’d met last night. Again the search engine gave her a page of articles. At the top of the page was a row of images, none of them were very clear. She clicked a fuzzy group one so she could go to the page and see it in a larger size. There they were: Neelam, Lucy, Jay, Dylan… and Scarlett.
“That’s me! I really do know them.”
She sunk a little lower into her seat to be less conspicuous, suddenly aware that if she was one of them, then she was wanted too. She went back to the list of news articles and clicked through to read one of them.
“The super menace group is still at large and The London Evening News has got an exclusive picture. If you know the identity of any of the people in this photo, call us on 020 7999 1000. We’ll call you straight back.
“The group, as you may remember, are to blame for the Victoria Incident that devastated the capital and indeed the whole country last year. It’s time they were brought to justice.”
Victoria Incident? What did that mean? She looked at the list of articles again. “What could those nice kids – and me – have done that was so bad?” she wondered. Scarlett refused to believe it was true.
“Menace or heroes?” asked the title of a blog. Displayed below were the first words, which read: “The government are quick to persecute the so-called super-power menace, but how do we know they’re bad? Well, maybe they’re not if you believe…” Scarlett hit the link to read the rest of the article, but it wasn’t there. There was just a blank screen saying “This page has been removed”.
Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would have said as she ventured into her Wonderland. Why had a positive article about the super teens been removed? Why were her family reported as dead? And why didn’t she exist? It was a mystery. Scarlett was beginning to realise that nothing was as it seemed it this twisted world.
She hit the back button again to try to find more, but at that second, the glass front of the café shattered as a policeman came flying through it and landed by her computer. Scarlett span around in disbelief, checking herself for cuts. She should have known things wouldn’t stay quiet for long. She was beginning to hate this place, wherever it was.
She looked outside. Dozens of police were marching to the scene – she could count at least ten rows of them. Well she thought they were police anyway. Their black, military-style outfits and the helmets that covered their faces made them look so much more imposing than any cops she’d seen before and the sight of them striding towards the building carrying guns scared the life out of her. Since when were they all armed? Remembering that she was a wanted woman, Scarlett decided to make a quick exit amidst the commotion. She logged off her computer, then snuck out into the crowds.
Chaos was reigning. A group of troublemakers about her age were fighting with the police. Scarlett couldn’t believe her eyes – they had super powers, but it only took her a second to realise they weren’t the teenagers she had met yesterday.
“Who are they then?” she wondered. Something told her she didn’t want to hang around to find out, so she put her head down and kept on walking. But it was too late. She’d already been spotted.
“Hello Scarlett,” smiled a girl with curly dark hair who had flown from nowhere to be hovering in front of her. “Well, well, we never expected to see you again.”
Chapter 4
“Yowch!” Scarlett yelled as the crazy flying girl slapped her round the face. Something told her that, whoever this teen was, the two of them weren’t friends.
“Ethan!” the girl shouted. “Look who I’ve found. I told you she wasn’t dead.”
Scarlett turned round to see the boy she was talking to. He was about her age, 5ft 10in with a blond floppy fringe that moodily covered one eye. He was throwing little round bombs around left, right and centre, before stopping to run over to them.
“Hi Scarlett,” he said with an unwelcoming tone. “You survived then?”
“Survived what? Do I know you?”
“I think she’s gone mad,” the flying girl laughed as she eyed Scarlett up and down. She sure was pretty, if you liked sexy stunners with killer hourglass figures and bouncy curly hair. Scarlett fingered her own super-straight locks with envy.
“Shut it, Sasha,” Ethan snapped. “It’s obvious she’s bluffing.”
“No I’m not! I honestly have no idea where I am, who you are, who anyone is.”
“Yeah, you would say that,” he laughed.
“What are we going to do with her?” the girl she now knew to be called Sasha asked.
“I don’t know.” Ethan scratched his head. He looked around at his two teammates, who were still fighting the police. A stunning Japanese girl was outsmarting the officers with some impressive, nifty moves and a bulky, brunette guy was beating them all to a pulp. He looked almost invincible, their punches and bullets didn’t make a dent and almost appeared to make him stronger. He must be super tough too because he was tearing pieces of metal off an unfinished building and throwing them at his attackers.
“We should be helping them, not standing here chatting,” Ethan added.
The Japanese girl spotted Scarlett and effortlessly somersaulted her way through the air to reach her. She kicked her flat in the chest and pinned her to the floor.
“Ow!” Scarlett yelped.
“Where is he?” the girl screamed.
Scarlett sighed. This lot were all crazy and, like most of the people in this world, talking utter nonsense that she didn’t understand.
“Get off me!” Scarlett screamed, flailing her free hand in a desperate bid to hit the crazy ninja girl round the face. She missed, so she swung her arm again.
“Oh damn it,” Scarlett muttered.
Suddenly, a huge piece of metal flew at all three of them, sending them flying and setting Scarlett free.
That was a stroke of good luck.
Ethan, Sasha and the other girl got to their feet and momentarily forgot about Scarlett while they screamed at
their strong friend.
“What the hell did you throw that at us for?”
“I didn’t!” he protested. “I swear, I was aiming over there.” He pointed in the opposite direction.
As they rowed, Scarlett seized the opportunity to make a run for it while their backs were turned. She bolted down the street and kept going until she was sure no one was following her, then ducked into a small alley. Panting and out of breath, she stared at her surroundings. The city was grim and unrecognisable from the London she knew, but she was sure she was still in the City somewhere. The narrow streets and mix of old-fashioned buildings and imposing shiny towers told her that much.
“Urgh!” she grumbled as something squelched under her Converse. What had she put her foot in? She scowled at the masses of dirt and scum on the floor. And to think people used to call the London she lived in dirty. This was positively disgusting.
Scarlett heard some people approaching and skulked further back into the shadows. As they passed, she realised they were two policemen on patrol.
“Nope nothing down here,” one of them said. “Shall we get some Detectobots sent in to be sure?”
She wanted to gasp with fear, but she knew she had to stay as quiet as possible.
“No point,” the other cop said. “The trouble is all back up there and you know we get punished when we waste resources.”
“You’re right,” the first cop agreed. “Let’s go back.”
Scarlett listened as they walked away in the direction they came from and waited for ten long minutes until she was sure the coast was clear to step back out into the street again.
What did she do now? She had been hit by a lorry, woken up in a nightmare universe, lost her best friend, found out her family were supposedly dead, she was homeless and she’d been attacked by a bunch of super-powered maniacs. Things couldn’t get crazier, or much worse.
She couldn’t even call anyone or go anywhere because she didn’t have a mobile phone or much of Neelam’s money left. Thinking of Neelam, she pulled out the gadget she’d given her and remembered the girl’s words: “Press this anytime and we’ll come running.” Scarlett ran her fingers lightly over the curious contraption. Last night, she’d been a little scared of the weird gang of kids she’d met, with their claims to know her and their special powers, but now she realised they were the only people she could turn to. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and hit the switch.
A gust of wind whooshed against her face and sent litter whirling down the alley. Scarlett opened her eyes and saw the blond boy called Jay standing there. He smiled at her, his chocolate-brown eyes twinkling with happiness.
“Scarlett! You called? Have you remembered us?”
“No.” She shuffled her feet apprehensively. “But I didn’t know where else to go.”
“So you wanna come home?”
“Home?”
“To our house?”
“OK…” she still wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the best option.
“Come on, hop on,” he declared.
She glanced around, but she couldn’t see a bike, scooter, or indeed any kind of transportation.
“Of course, you don’t remember anything.” Jay smacked his forehead for comedy effect. “Sorry, Scarlett, it’s hard to adjust, and I’m just so happy to see you alive, my brain runs away with me.”
“That’s OK,” she said uneasily, even though it wasn’t.
“I run fast, very fast, that’s my power. That’s how I got here so quickly after you called us. So if you just hop on my back, I’ll have you back at the house in a jiffy.”
“Oh, right.” She remembered Dylan saying Jay was super quick, now she thought about it.
“Come on, Scarlett!” Jay joked. “What are you waiting for?”
She clumsily tried to climb onto his back, but she didn’t have much success.
“Don’t clamber about like a feeble kitten,” he said. “Hop on!”
Scarlett hopped. She fell.
“Oh, come here, you silly girl.”
He picked her up.
“Now throw your hands round my neck, wrap your legs around me and hold on tight.”
Scarlett blushed. She’d never been this close to a boy before. She’d never even had a boyfriend because she’d been too busy studying, listening to music and reading comics. She was too embarrassed to hold on too tight.
However, once Jay started to run, she clung on for dear life. He sure wasn’t kidding when he said he was fast, it felt like she was travelling at the speed of light. She tried to focus on their surroundings as they whizzed past, but they sped by in a multi-coloured blur.
“Here you go,” he smiled, as he put her down outside a huge, old house seconds later.
The world was spinning.
“I feel dizzy,” Scarlett said. “And sick.”
Jay laughed as he fumbled for his key.
“Sorry, he said. “You’ll get used to it, I promise.”
Was he kidding? There was no way she was doing that again. She looked up and down the tree-lined street, trying to figure out where they were.
“Where’s my key?” he muttered.
At that second, the door flung open.
“You’re home!” Neelam announced, as she stepped onto the doorstep to give them both a hug.
Scarlett instantly tried to lock her thoughts up tight. She couldn’t help but feel uneasy and exposed around Neelam and her telepathic powers.
“Did you read our minds, to know we were outside?” Scarlett asked suspiciously.
“No! I heard you silly. You weren’t exactly quiet. Now come inside before someone sees us. Lucy and I use our powers to mask our presence in this area, but we can still never be too careful.”
Scarlett followed Neelam and Jay through the grand entrance hall.
“Where are we?” she asked. “Am I still in London?”
Neelam giggled. “Of course we are, even Jay can’t run that fast. We’re in Highgate, you know, in north London.”
“Oh yeah.” She mentally pictured it being near the top of the Northern Line on the tube map. “I’ve never been here before.”
Jay looked at her confused. “You used to live here!” He turned to Neelam. “Why doesn’t she remember?” he asked impatiently.
Neelam gave him a stern look. “Stop pressurising Scarlett. This is hard for her,” she chastised him.
They walked into the living room, where Lucy and Dylan were sitting by the fire reading.
“Hi!” they exclaimed. They jumped up ready to get excited, then suddenly acted more composed. She sensed that Neelam had used her power to tell them to behave and go easy on her too.
“Sit down,” Lucy encouraged her. “I’ve got a lasagne in the oven cooking for later, I know it’s your favourite.”
“Thanks,” Scarlett smiled as she hesitantly perched on the edge of a sofa. Lasagne was her favourite. It baffled her how much they knew.
“Wait till you’ve tasted it,” Jay laughed. “Lucy doesn’t cook very often.”
Lucy scowled.
“I’m sure it’ll be lovely,” Scarlett assured her. She stared around the room as the others sat down around her. The room had cream and pale green walls, which she found to be quite calming. The curtains and sofas were a quite old-fashioned shade of dark green, while the floors were wooden with a large Chinese rug in the centre. It didn’t seem like the kind of house you would find a group of teenagers living in.
“So, who are you… we?” she asked.
“Well, we don’t exactly have a name,” Dylan explained. “We’re a group of people with special powers. I guess you could say we try to make this country a better place.”
“And keep out of trouble when necessary,” Jay added.
“Yeah a lot of people have it in for us,” Dylan agreed. “So we have to lie low, but we still do our bit to, you know, save the world.”
“If you’re – we’re – the good guys, then why are the police after you?” she asked. �
��I saw a wanted poster for you, and read some articles on the internet.”
“Propaganda,” Neelam said angrily. “The government have made us look bad for their own ends and that’s why the cops have it in for us too…”
“It’s a long story,” Dylan said, cutting Neelam’s rant off.
“Well, can I hear it?” Scarlett asked. “Please?” she looked around at the four of them.
There was no response.
“Oh, come on! You say you all know me, but I don’t remember any of this. I’ve been chased by funny robots and attacked by some crazy ninja girl, so I’m clearly in danger. Why can’t you tell me the truth?”
Neelam was alarmed. “What? A girl attacked you?”
“Ninja girl? As in super-skilled at martial arts?” Dylan asked.
Scarlett nodded. She should have guessed they’d know her.
The four of them stared at each other – they looked pretty worried.
“Toshiko,” Neelam sighed. “Was she alone?”
“No, she was with three friends.”
Dylan had his head in his hands. “I can’t believe they came after you.”
“Well they didn’t really, I kind of ran into them… they were fighting with police when they spotted me. Two of them, they called each other Ethan and Sasha, seemed to know me, then the other girl – who you call Toshiko – saw me and attacked me like a crazy thing. Then the funniest thing happened, just as I was trying to slap her, a big piece of metal flew at them from nowhere and I escaped. It was so lucky.”
“Yeah lucky,” Lucy said rolling her eyes. “It just flew from nowhere.”
“Who are they?” Scarlett asked, letting Lucy’s strange comment go.
“They’re like us,” Neelam said. “They used to be with us, but they took a different path.”
“OK, I’m starting to get lost now,” she said, pressing her thumbs on her temples. Her brain was close to exploding with the ridiculous overload of information.
“Can you all explain this to me from the beginning? Starting with how we got our powers, what my supposed powers even are and how we met. And tell me how the hell the world became so screwed up and nasty,” she said, gesturing at the window and towards the street outside.
Out Of Time (Book 0): Super Unknown Page 10