by H. R. Moore
Two hours later both Anita and Alexander could feel that they were nearly there. The pigeon had stopped, its energy getting closer. As they leapt over a style into the next field, a beautiful farmhouse with several barns surrounding it came into view, along with a massive crowd of people who were all intently watching an energy projector. As was normal for a Chase, the crowd had been told where the pigeon was heading as soon as the contestants had left and they had been transported in energy trains to the finish. Energy trains ran on an energy cell and hovered above the ground as they travelled. Energy cells had been an invention of Bas’ grandfather, who had worked out a way to capture and consolidate energy waves so they could be used as a power source. The energy trains that had been used today were exquisite examples and almost certainly belonged to one of the Descendant families. They had plush velvet seat covers and heavy, luxurious drapes along the sides.
As they raced across the field a cheer went up from the crowd. All eyes turned towards them as they fiercely competed to take the lead. As they reached the courtyard, Alexander was slightly in front. They felt the pigeon’s energy behind them at the same time and both whipped round immediately, turning in perfect unison, like dancers performing a routine. They headed for one of the barns, Anita now slightly ahead, having benefitted from the sudden change in direction and as she entered the barn she saw the pigeon in front of her, sitting on a low stack of rectangular hay bales. She could feel Alexander’s energy immediately behind her, so strong that it felt like it might envelop her, but she reached out and snatched the scroll at the pigeon’s feet just ahead of his long, muscular hand. She somehow managed to leap on top of the bales to avoid directly colliding with them and skidded to a clumsy halt. Alexander did the same however and bowled into Anita with such momentum that he pushed her off the other side, landing on top of her and leaving them in an awkward heap on the floor, luckily not totally in view of the growing crowd of people in the barn.
‘Happy?’ Alexander hissed at her as he pulled himself to his feet.
‘I will be when you get off me,’ she retorted. ‘You know there’s nothing worse than a sore loser.’ Alexander looked spectacular, in a terrifying kind of way, as he stalked out of the barn trying to regain his composure.
Anita got up as gracefully as she could given the circumstances and found herself face to face with the fearsome Austin. ‘Well, that was interesting,’ he said in a sing song voice, but pinning her with cold and dangerous eyes. ‘Congratulations…um…’
‘Anita,’ Alistair said, coming to the rescue, ‘congratulations. A startling performance as ever. Austin, this girl has won every contest she has ever entered and she hasn’t disappointed again here today. Well done Anita.’ Thank the Gods for the wonderful Alistair, though Anita. She must remember to thank him properly later. ‘The presentation Austin?’ prompted Alastair.
‘Yes of course, follow me,’ he commanded and Anita followed Austin out of the barn with Alastair stuck firmly to her side. As they emerged into the courtyard, Anita saw most of the other contestants had also finished, with only a few stragglers still making their way to the farmhouse. She briefly caught Bas’ eye, he was sporting both a huge grin and an enormous graze down one of his legs. Anita gave him a questioning look. He inclined his head in the general direction of Gwyn and Marcus, and Anita was glad she hadn’t had to deal with them on the Chase. Poor Bas. Alistair ushered Anita after Austin, who was giving off extremely strong negative energy, Anita noticed. Maybe Alexander was right, maybe she should have kept a low profile. Well too late for that now, she thought as she stepped up in front of the crowd.
‘Descendants, Councillors, contestants, children of the Temples of the Mind, Body and Spirit. Today we have witnessed a spectacular, competitive Chase, with our worthy contestants having battled for three long hours, over difficult and varied terrain to get here. But, as is always the case, there can only be one victor and today, by an excruciating margin – better luck next time Alexander – the victor is Anita, of the Temple of the Body.’ A roar went up from the crowd when he said her name, much to Anita’s surprise. Normally everyone was pretty indifferent when she won. They must just be happy that someone other than a Descendant had finished first, thought Anita, as Austin continued, ‘as is customary for a Chase of this importance, we have a spectacular prize for our winner. Along with being guest of honour at the Crowning Ball and leading the ball’s first dance, I present to you, Anita, a vintage energy meter from my own private collection.’ The crowd gave another roar as Austin took the energy meter from James, who had been nervously hovering with it at the side of the stage, and handed it to Anita, looking slightly pained as he did so. Anita was gobsmacked. This she had not been expecting. She caught Bas’ eye again, who was looking longingly at the meter in her hands. Bet he can’t wait to get a look at this, she laughed to herself as Austin ushered her off the stage.
‘Well, that concludes today’s festivities. I trust that you all had an enjoyable day and I thank all the contestants that took part. Please make your way to the energy trains which will return you to Empire.’
As the crowd was dispersing and Anita was making her way towards Bas and Alistair, she felt a hand close around her arm. She turned to see Austin, who looked like a small boy about to pull the wings off a fly. ‘Off course our champion cannot travel back with the crowds. Please, join us in our carriage,’ he said, in his horrible, over the top voice, pulling Anita towards a floating golden carriage that looked like it was worth more money then there was in the world, with plush, overstuffed red velvet seats. The carriage already contained Marcus and a driver. Great, thought Anita, I’m sure this won’t be awkward at all, her energy already rising as she anticipated the proximity to Marcus she was heading for.
As they approached the carriage however, as if things couldn’t have got any worse, Alexander blocked her entrance. ‘Allow me to help you,’ he said in his charming, chocolate voice, taking Anita’s hand and moving aside to help her climb the steps into the carriage. ‘Austin, I thought I would ride back with you, I trust that will be okay,’ he said climbing in behind her without waiting for a response.
‘Of course,’ Austin snarled as he too climbed into the carriage. ‘Let’s get a move on then,’ he barked at the driver when he had settled himself down. He sat beside Marcus, opposite Alexander who had taken the seat next to Anita.
They travelled in awkward silence for several minutes, Anita looking out into the countryside to avoid looking at her traveling companions, hoping this would be enough to keep her energy under wraps, before Austin broke the silence. ‘That was quite a show Anita,’ he said dangerously, his hard brown eyes glinting as he stared menacingly at her, ‘very impressive.’
‘Thanks,’ she smiled back at him warily, in the sweetest, most innocent tone she could muster. ‘I’ve always had a certain knack for Body contests.’
‘I see,’ he drawled.
‘Yes, congratulations,’ interjected Alexander. ‘It was close at the end there, but the best contestant won,’ he said in what seemed like a sincere way. Marcus was sizing up Alexander like he was about to launch himself towards him, Anita pondering why as Austin resumed his campaign.
‘It was especially impressive how you turned so quickly at the end, when you both realised that you were heading in the wrong direction.’
Anita looked him straight in the eye, saying as naively as she could, ‘well as you know, us Body types are prone to having lightening reactions. When I saw Alexander start to turn, I did the same. When I turned round I saw the open entrance to the barn, took a punt and got lucky. You see the strangest thing happened in the middle of the Chase, my energy meter broke. Luckily I saw the pigeon heading north and of course could see Alexander was still heading north, so I continued north, but it’s such a strange occurrence for an energy meter to go wrong like that. Have you ever heard of one breaking?’ she asked in a sugary voice, still holding Austin’s now murderous gaze. She could feel his energy turn from playful
boy to hostile animal and felt Alexander’s defensive reaction, as he stiffened slightly beside her. Anita felt her energy intensify, but it wasn’t focused on Austin, it was on Alexander, she liked that he was defending her. She felt Alexander’s energy soften slightly, but only for a moment, as he felt the impact he had had on her.
Bloody hell Anita, she said silently to herself, as, to everyone’s surprise, Marcus interjected, ‘you probably just accidently reset the meter to track something else. It happens.’
Marcus, knowing the best way to deal with Austin was not head on, was trying to soothe the situation and looked at her with a slight plea in his eyes. ‘Yes, probably,’ Anita replied, trying to pull herself together with a slight shake of her head. ‘Luckily I was with Alexander and I could follow him, otherwise I would have been out of the race and given how competitive I am, that would not have been an attractive sight,’ she laughed enthusiastically, hoping self-depreciation would help move the conversation to safer territory.
‘Well luckily you did have Alexander to follow and we now have the good fortune of your beauty on our journey home,’ said Marcus, again taking everyone by surprise. Anita went bright red, thinking instantly of the kiss in the field and Marcus’ invitation to the ball. Shit, she thought, please don’t bring that up now. This time it was her who sent Marcus a pleading look. Mercifully, Alexander came to her rescue, obviously feeling her energy shift, asking Austin about the history of the energy meter that Anita had won. Anita knew Alexander would now suspect something was up with her and Marcus, but she would take that over Marcus bringing it up in front of Austin any day.
Austin, glad the attention was once again back on him, launched into a story about how the meter had belonged to his father Tobias, a story which lasted all the way back to the city. Anita zoned out pretty quickly, watching the countryside whip past, thinking about the ball, the Chase, the antique energy meter she now owned, why Austin had tampered with her race meter, and why Alexander was so concerned with her being ‘careful’, whatever that actually meant. She was horribly confused and couldn’t have been happier when the carriage pulled up outside Cordelia’s cottage, where she could say goodbye and retreat to a place where there were no readers to scrutinise her energy, nor spectacular specimens to cause it to spike.
*****
Anita headed to The Island later that night to see Cleo. It felt like ages since she had seen her. She walked into the bar and heard Cleo before she saw her, ‘I knew she would win. I told you. She’s never been beaten yet and she wasn’t going to let a few Descendants stop her.’
‘Hey Cleo,’ Anita called across the room, waving at her best friend. She made gestures which hopefully meant ‘I’m going to get a drink, I’ll come over in a minute’, and headed to the ugly little bar to place her order. The Island was packed full of people who had been to the Chase, both those who had been in the crowd and contestants, but thankfully the Descendants didn’t appear to be around. At least that gives me more time until I have to give Marcus an answer, thought Anita, as she was suddenly yanked sideways by an overexcited Cleo, who had bounded across the room and now had her arms wrapped around Anita in a frenzied hug.
‘YOU DID IT!’ Cleo squealed. ‘WELL DONE!’
‘Thanks. It was a bit close for comfort this time, but I just about managed to get to the scroll first.’
‘Well, I knew you would do it all along. Now, let me buy you a celebratory drink.’ Anita put her hand up to protest but Cleo shot her a warning look so ferocious that she backed down pretty quickly.
‘Thanks. I’ll have an Empire then please,’ a cocktail made of a curious mix of spirits that Anita had never quite managed to determine. This Cleo seemed pleased with, presumably because the drink was both extremely potent and suitably extravagant. Cleo called the order to the bar tender, who said he would bring the drinks over, then dragged Anita back to the table where she had been sitting. Cleo shooed the guys she had been talking to away (this always amazed Anita) and leant in conspiratorially; clearly there was something Cleo wanted to discuss.
‘So,’ she started, still totally over the top, ‘I’ve heard a rumour.’
‘Oh, a new and different past time for you. I’m thrilled you’re branching out…’
‘Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know.’
‘No?’ Anita replied sarcastically.
Cleo gave her a chastising look, but couldn’t contain herself any longer, so pressed on. ‘I’ve heard that Marcus is inviting someone outside his usual circle to the ball.’
‘Really?’ Asked Anita, feeling a slight flutter of panic, ‘how do you know that?’
‘Well, you know James, the Mind Councillor who organised the Chase?’
‘Yes.’
‘His son Henry has invited me to the ball!’
‘Congratulations,’ Anita said with genuine feeling, internally slightly surprised, although she didn’t know why, it was exactly the kind of thing that Cleo always managed to engineer.
‘Thanks,’ Cleo shot back, looking smug, ‘we can discuss how I pulled that one off in a minute, but anyway, he came in to see me last night for a drink and we drank a little too much Island Punch. He started saying that Marcus’ friends had all been teasing him about not having a date for the ball. Pretty much everyone else in their circle has got a date, most of them with each other obviously, apart from Marcus, Henry and one other notable exception,’ said Cleo, eyeing Anita deviously, ‘…Missy, who will be attending the ball with Bas.’
‘What kind of a name is Missy?’ laughed Anita. ‘And who is she?’ Anita asked, feeling both relieved and a tiny bit jealous, if she was being totally honest with herself. She didn’t want to go out with Bas, but she felt a bit possessive over him anyway.
‘She is the daughter of some senior Councillor. It’s highly likely that it was orchestrated by their parents if you ask me...but anyway, Henry said that they had all been teasing Marcus about it yesterday, and he said that he had options outside the normal crowd. Apparently he said that he wasn’t going to tell anyone who he had decided to take, because he wanted it to be a surprise on the night.’ Anita sat very still, not saying a word. Should she tell Cleo? It would be good to talk to someone about it. But before she got a chance, Cleo was already speculating who it could be. ‘I think it’s that girl in our Mind class. The really useless one who thinks she’s practically a gift from the Gods. Or maybe the girl that Austin chose to pick the pigeon this morning. Maybe he’s in on it too. I can’t imagine Austin would like it if Marcus turned up at the ball with someone outside their circle unless he knew about it first.’
‘Cleo,’ Anita said quietly.
‘Uh huh,’ Cleo replied, at the same time as thanking the waiter for the drinks he had just put down in front of them.
‘There is something I need to talk to you about,’ she said slowly, ‘outside.’
Cleo looked worried. ‘Is everything alright?’
‘Yep, just something I want to talk to you about, but it’s a bit crowded in here.’
‘Okay,’ Cleo said as they picked up their drinks and headed out the back door. They sat down on a bench overlooking the river and Anita took a sip of her toxic drink.
‘The cocktail is delicious, as always,’ she said.
‘You didn’t bring me out here to talk about cocktails,’ replied Cleo, anxious to find out what Anita wanted to talk about, she could practically smell the gossip.
‘No,’ said Anita, wondering how to approach this. ‘You know the other week when I turned down Marcus’ offer to go back to his with the others?’
‘No,’ gasped Cleo, ‘you went?!’
Anita smirked and shook her head, ‘no.’
‘Oh. Sorry, carry on.’
‘The following day I was running by the river when Marcus ran up behind me. He asked if he could join me for a run, so obviously I put him through his paces.’ Now Cleo smirked. ‘We got a fair distance before he wanted to stop for a break and we chatted for a bit.’ Cleo’s
face was frozen in a look of open-mouthed disbelief and Anita had to stifle a laugh as she continued. ‘And he asked me to go to the ball with him. Well it was more of a command really than a question…’
‘…so you’re the one he is taking to the ball?’
‘Well, I’m not sure.’
‘You’re not sure? What do you mean you’re not sure? Presumably you said yes?’
‘Um.’
‘Um?’
‘Well I told him ‘maybe’.’
‘You told him ‘maybe’?’ Cleo repeated in a disgusted voice.
‘Yes.’
‘Right.’
They sat there in dumbfounded silence for a minute before Cleo piped up again, ‘as you know, this doesn’t normally happen to me, but I’m basically speechless. You’ve got to go to the ball with him.’
‘Why?’
‘Why?! Because he’s a Descendant and can you imagine the look on bitch face Gwyneth’s face if you do?’
‘Well that’s probably the best reason I’ve thought of so far,’ laughed Anita. ‘But other than that I just don’t know if it’s a good idea.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t really want to draw attention to myself.’
‘You didn’t stop to consider that when you won the Chase this morning.’
‘I know.’
‘Even so, why not? A bit of attention can be fun you know.’
‘Hmmm.’
‘And you have to lead the first dance, so it may as well be with someone who will look good, and by the relic, he looks good.’
‘That makes it even worse. Everyone is going to be looking at me leading the first dance anyway, but if I’m dancing with him, everyone will be looking at me and speculating what is going on between us and why he chose me.’