by Robin Jarvis
“I don’t want to go yet,” she objected. “Jody’s still cross.”
“You’re comin’ in, noo,” he said flatly. “It’s turned cold oot here.”
The little girl pouted and trailed after him.
“God, you’re rude,” Charm scolded Lee.
“I got summat to say,” he explained simply. “Didn’t want him to hear. He understood fine.”
Spencer and Maggie stirred uneasily. “If you two are going to get sloppy,” she said, “we’ll leave you to it as well.”
“Hell, no,” Lee told them. “You stop right there. I know I can trust you. You’s family to me now and what I got to say… it’s important. It’s the biggest damn secret in this whole camp.”
The gravity in his voice made them sit up and they leaned in closer.
“Now this is gonna sound crazy,” he whispered, taking a quick look around to ensure no one was within earshot. “But it’s gospel truth. I ain’t got no time to invent up stuff to make me seem…”
“Oh, spit it out!” Charm said.
“I’ve been to Mooncaster.”
He waited for them to say something, but they only stared back at him.
“You hear me?” he asked.
“I’m just waiting for the punchline,” Maggie said.
Lee shook his head. He knew it was an impossible thing to believe, but he had to try and make them.
“OK,” he said. “From the top. When this first started, way, waaay back, months ago, before the riots and fires, I was hanging with a bad crowd, real rudeboys. Man, we thought we was the business and I thought I was it. Thinking back, I ain’t proud, but when you grew up on my estate, there weren’t much else to make you feel good about yourself. We had our own war goin’ on and didn’t pay no attention to stoopid news scares about a kids’ book. Anyhow, one night there was gonna be a tussle – us and another gang. Was gonna be real messy. We went to the party with blades and bats, and yes, one of us had a gun – but no, it weren’t me.”
He paused a moment, recollecting that night at the beginning of the year, stepping into that underground car park, high on adrenalin and keyed to do serious damage to whatever moved.
“Yeah. We got there, tooled up, but… them other kids. All they brought was a book – that was it. ’Fore we knew what they was doin’, they started readin’ at us. We just laughed at first. Then my bruvs stopped laughin’. They was noddin’ their heads like they was on summat. I freaked and tried to run, but my heart felt like it was gonna pop and it was as if I was drownin’. That’s when I passed out – but I woke up in Mooncaster.”
“You were a Jaxer?” Maggie breathed. “It got you? You were one of the affected? How did you break out of it?”
“No!” he said. “I said I woke up, not some peasant or some knight or any of that fairy-tale crap. I woke up as me.”
“That’s not possible,” Spencer countered. “No one wakes up there as themselves. That’s the whole point.”
“I did and I do every time I goes back.”
“You’re serious, ain’t ya?” Charm murmured.
Lee nodded. “For a long time I was just invisible when I was there. No one could see or hear me – I couldn’t even touch nuthin’. That was so weird, but I got used to it – fact it were addictive. Man, I couldn’t wait to go and see all them things in them pages and when I was near to someone new who got turned, I got dragged there too. Still happens that way, there ain’t no brakes. Then one day I started leavin’ footprints in the snow. Another time I was a blurry shadow, getting more and more solid and stronger every trip. So now, if I go, them deluded zombie folks see me, same as you do.”
The others let this sink in. If anyone else but Lee had said this, they would never have believed a word.
“Now you know where them apples came from that one time,” he said, amused by their stunned faces.
Maggie rocked back. “No!” she hissed. “They were from there? I got into trouble over them! Jody thought Jangler gave them to me.”
“Wait,” Spencer said. “You can actually bring objects back from there? That’s… incredible!”
“It’s a real place, same as this, sometimes feels more real than here.”
“Hang on,” Maggie butted in. “How come we’re starving, if you can nip there and back so easy?”
“Cos it’s not like droppin’ down to Sainsbury’s! That place is crazy mad. It’s like nuthin’ you ever saw. That book don’t give you a clue what it’s really about. There’s all kinds of dangerous stuff goin’ on the whole time, in every corner. Last I was there, I had the bones scared right outta me and haven’t dared go back since.”
“If Jangler and the guards ever found out what you can do,” Spencer uttered worriedly, “they’d kill you straight away. They’d have to. You’re a rogue element, a free radical in their blessed, Jaxy world. You’re a massive danger to all of it, do you realise that? The things you’d be able to do… I don’t understand why you’ve told us. You shouldn’t tell anyone.”
Lee wiped his forehead and sighed. “Some secrets is just too big for one person to keep,” he said. “I had to get it outta my dome before it burst. Been burnin’ me up the whole time we been here. ’Sides, I’m gonna need your help. Maggie’s right. We ain’t gonna make it on the slop they give us. I’m gonna have to go there again and bring food back. But there’s summat else I wanna do first…”
A curious smile played across his face and he looked over at Charm.
“What?” she asked.
“I wanna take you on that date,” he told her. “I wanna take you with me – to Mooncaster.”
WHEN THE INITIAL shock of his invitation subsided, there wasn’t time to discuss it. Spencer checked his watch and was dismayed to find it really was almost eight o’clock. They barely had time to hasten back to their cabins before the curfew.
High on the fence post, the blackbird continued to sing. When Garrugaska came patrolling the perimeter, the guard raised his gun and shot it.
In their separate cabins, Maggie and Charm’s minds were spinning. How could they sleep after hearing that? On the mezzanine of their own hut, Lee and Spencer whispered together for hours and worked out a plan.
The next morning, Lee didn’t get a chance to speak with Charm alone. Someone was always there and they couldn’t get away. It was only when the two work parties met up on the way home, much later, that he told her what had been decided. They were going to attempt it that very night.
Straight after the soup, which she was much too nervous to eat any of, Charm hurried back to her cabin. There she wrapped, in a tight bundle, some of the re-enactment clothes she had been given for that picnic, so long ago now, and raced round to Lee’s. Spencer was waiting by the stairs.
“Good luck,” the boy said earnestly.
Charm gave him a hug and ascended.
She had just reached the mezzanine, where she burst out laughing, when Alasdair entered. He didn’t think anything of it until he noticed Spencer standing like a sentinel at the foot of the stairs.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked.
“They want some time together,” Spencer answered truthfully. “I’m making sure they don’t get disturbed.”
The Scot raised his eyebrows. “So they’ve got you being their bouncer noo? Aye, well, she’ll be away soon. S’pose they should make the most of it, but I’m no gonna stop in here, listening to them two bonking. I’m off oot.”
Spencer smiled and told the same to Drew and Nicholas when they came in.
The moment she saw what Lee was wearing, Charm had a fit of the giggles. He looked ridiculous. He had borrowed Spencer’s cloak and jerkin and sneaked the green cowl Alasdair had worn on that picnic from under the Scot’s bed. His lower half still retained his usual trackie bottoms and trainers.
“You look mental,” she giggled.
Lee was sitting on his bed. He pulled at the laces of the cowl grumpily.
“Gotta blend best we can there,” he said. “You got
yours?”
She cast her bundle down and told him to turn around whilst she changed.
“Shy girl,” he chuckled, facing the far wall. “Don’t take forever. It’s half six already. We gotta get our asses back here before lights out, remember – so we don’t got much time.”
As she threw off her ordinary clothes and stepped into the long undershirt and kirtle she had brought, he reminded her what he had said earlier.
“I so can’t believe we’re doin’ this,” she said. “If this is a wind-up, I’ll jeffin’ frottle you.”
“Just stick close and do whatever I say.”
“Ooh, you’re a bossy beggar!”
“Cos it’s dangerous, Sweets. Can’t stress it enough. First sign of trouble, or even summat I don’t like the look of, we’re outta there. If we get an arrow in our neck in that place, we bleed here just the same. If we die there, we’re croaked here too. And, when I’m trying to get us back, if you let go my hand, you’ll be stuck there. This ain’t no joyride. This is deadly. For real. Am I makin’ this plain?”
“I hear ya,” she tutted, fastening a belt round her waist, with a leather purse attached. Then she donned a linen coif.
“All done,” she declared. “You can look now.”
Lee turned and couldn’t stop himself smiling. She looked lovely, like a princess masquerading as a servant girl. He patted the bed and she sat next to him, expectant and trusting.
“I reckon the safest place to be,” he said, taking her hands in his, “will be out in the fields – away from the castle, the forests, the village and the witch’s tower. Course out in the middle of no place still ain’t no guarantee – there’s all sorts of surprises under every stone. And then we have to watch for that Bad Shepherd – he is one sick piece of psycho trash. He’s the last person you ever wanna tangle with and has a nasty habit of poppin’ up just when you ain’t expectin’ it. OK, you set?”
“No,” she answered.
“No? What you mean, no?”
“I was finkin’. What you’re doin’ is lovely, it really is. An’ you’re so sweet to wanna take me on a date and everyfink, but – I don’t wanna see no countryside nor nofink like that. We got enough of it ’ere.”
“Then what? Don’t ask for no big crowd events, or dumb-ass royal parties. There ain’t no nightclubs there. If the Ismus guy spots us, we is dead for sure.”
Charm shook her head gently. “That’s not what I want. There’s only one fing I wanna see. Only one sight I got my heart set on. Please let me, please take me there.”
“Why do I know I’m not going to like this?”
The girl looked beseechingly at him.
“Please,” she said. “I wanna see me ma. Can you help me find her? She works in the castle wash house.”
Lee let go of her hands.
“What?” he cried. “Is your name Jody, cos you’re sounding just as crazy?”
“It’s all I want in the world,” she begged. “Just to see her again. Please!”
It was an insane idea. Going to the remote countryside of that twisted Kingdom was hazardous enough, but to walk around, inside the White Castle itself, was suicide.
And yet Lee could hear the desperation in her voice. How could he refuse her? In a few days she’d be gone and he’d probably never see her again.
“I’m not makin’ no promises,” he sighed. “We might not even make it there. My aim sucks. What I said before goes double now. We get out soon as I say.”
She nodded readily.
“Let’s do this,” he said, taking her hands again. They were hot and pink with excitement now. “But if you do find your old lady, don’t go hopin’ she’ll know who you is. She’ll be livin’ that make-believe life to the max. You hear me? Don’t stoke yourself for no happy ending; them’s for different storybooks, not Dancing Jax.”
“Yes, I know,” she whispered, her eyes sparkling.
The boy told her to close them and hesitated before closing his own. His gaze lingered on that beautiful face. He really would do anything for her. He’d never felt that way about anyone before.
“Hey,” he murmured shortly. “Open your eyes.”
“Summat gone wrong?” she asked. “Ain’t it workin’? Have another go, please.”
“Open them.”
Charm looked up, hesitantly, and blinked in the sudden bright sunshine. Then she covered her mouth with her hands.
“OMG!” she squealed through her fingers. “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it! I didn’t feel nothin’. It’s amazin’ – you’re amazin’!”
She threw her grateful arms round his neck and kissed him ecstatically.
It was a warm summer’s day in Mooncaster. They were in a beautiful, ornamental, walled garden. Low hedges of neatly clipped box formed tidy borders to hem in the abundantly flowering roses, peonies, calendula, lilies, foxgloves, irises, violets and campion. She had never seen such brilliant, singing colours or such full, blousy blooms. The mingled scents that wafted through the air were indescribably sweet and the bees seemed drunk as they droned from plant to plant.
Charm inhaled the sights and smells joyously. Even the grass beneath her feet was a vivid emerald green and the freckling daisies shone out like stars. A cloud of pink butterflies rose up and flew about her as she stepped forward. They fluttered in formation, forming a large heart shape in the air that passed over and around her.
“It’s like that bit in The Wizard of Oz!” she exclaimed, with childlike wonder. “Where the bungalow drops on the old bag and Doroffy goes all colour and meets them scary toddlers.”
“Well, we ain’t in that place,” Lee reminded her sharply. “This ain’t no fairyland you ever saw on TV or the movies. This is like Narnia on crack. You just remember that. Ain’t nuthin’ safe here.”
He nodded past her shoulder and she turned to see the turrets and towers of the White Castle dominating the sky. They were within its three concentric walls, inside the royal gardens.
Charm had spent many months longing desperately for Dancing Jax to work its spell on her, but now she gazed up at that huge castle and despised every stone, every fluttering banner.
“We is deep in the enemy’s turf,” Lee said. “This is not desirable. If we’re seen, we is out the exit, soon as – you hear me? No matter what’s goin’ on, no matter if you’ve only just found your mum, right? If we’re caught here, we’s deadsauce.”
She nodded and he pulled the cowl up to conceal his face. “Remember,” he warned. “I can’t get back to the real world – our real world, ’less I’m outside. For some reason it don’t work if I’m indoors. You say what you gotta say to her then we skip. Now stay close and let’s find this laundry. If it’s where I think it is, we ain’t too…”
He paused and pulled her behind a trellised arch, festooned with perfect, pale pink roses. There was a movement in the flower beds. The blooms and leaves were pushed aside as something came forward, towards the low box border.
Lee put a finger to his lips. “Don’t you make a sound,” he whispered to the girl. “This might be nuthin’, might be just an animal, a squirrel or summat – but even they ain’t to be trusted. There’s no ‘normal’ here. Just cos it’s cute an’ fluffy don’t mean it ain’t gonna try and kill ya.”
Charm peered through the latticework of the trellis and reached for Lee’s hand when she saw a small ladder poke up above the flower bed. What was carrying it? She couldn’t see yet. Surely even here the squirrels didn’t need ladders? Suddenly its progress halted and it jerked and jiggled. The other end was snagged on something. A white foxglove shuddered and a small voice grumbled and grunted with effort. The ladder tugged violently and the tall mast of the foxglove toppled down like a felled tree.
“Oh, stuff me sideways!” the voice cried. “That’s done it! You’re in hot water now! She’ll notice that, she will.”
The ladder came speeding towards the low hedge. It stopped, angled forward and rested against the top. Then a preposterous litt
le creature in a straw hat came scampering up.
Lee squeezed Charm’s hand urgently. They had to go, his expression told her. They didn’t dare hang around now. She’d have to try and find her mother tomorrow.
The girl agreed and was about to run with him, when she gasped and let go of his hand. Lee whirled about. What was she doing?
Charm was staring at the figure that had climbed on to the hedge and was now pulling the ladder up after.
It was a little man, dressed in a green leather jerkin and short breeches. His head was out of proportion with his body and his arms and legs were short and thin. Hanging from the straps and belts, fastened around him, were many tiny jars and bottles, full of different coloured liquids. A silver trowel was secured under the straps across his back.
“We gotta get outta here now!” Lee hissed at her.
Charm caught his sleeve and pointed through the trellis. “Look!” she said. “Don’t you see who it is?”
Confused, the boy stared at the strange little man, who was now climbing down the other side of the box border.
“No way!” he muttered. “Can’t be!”
His voice was louder than he intended. The small man started at the sound and slid down the remaining rungs, rolling backwards on the grass and losing his hat. Jumping up again, the alarmed creature turned fearfully towards the rose trellis.
“Who’s there?” he demanded. “Who’s that spying in the floribunda? Come out! Or I’ll whistle for the guards! They’ll jab you out of there soon enough.”
Without the hat, there was no doubt about it. Lee and Charm both knew that face. It was a distorted caricature of one they were only too familiar with.
“Marcus!” the girl called, breaking cover before Lee could stop her. “We thought you was dead!”
The little man leaped back as she came running towards him and whipped out the trowel, wielding it as though it was a sword.