“Does he want to talk to me?” Fran reached for the phone. Delta pulled it away.
“Well I don’t have much choice, do I?” Delta said. “No, I’m sure she won’t be happy, but what else can I do?” Delta hung up. “You’d better sit down we could be in for a long wait, and what I have to tell you may leave you unable to stand.”
Fran did as she was told; she could tell Delta was serious and in that mood she was also quite scary.
Val felt a strong breeze rushing through her hair and the first thing she saw was clouds. She realised that she was seated, and that the music she could hear to was more ‘rave’ than she would personally have chosen.
To her astonishment, Val had arrived on a rollercoaster ride. She was at the back of a half a dozen of carriages, which were now stationary. The other passengers were crowded at the front. Val was surprised and shocked to see several of them standing up. She took in the panorama for a moment. The sea was to her right and to her left was an ocean of caravans. As she stood up, ready to investigate, she heard a familiar voice.
“Hello mate,” said Jason.
‘And on with the mate,’ Val thought. “Hello, do you have any clues as to where I am?” She spoke quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself.
“You are in Lincolnshire, somewhere called Ingoldmells,” Jason responded.
“OK. Well, I can see the sea from up here because I’m on a rollercoaster.” Val looked again towards the sea where several large tankers were visible on the horizon.
“Google says the only rollercoaster there is in a place called Fantasy Island,” Jason said.
“Well that’s great, thanks,” Val nodded.
“What’s going on?”
“Everyone has moved to the front. They’re looking at something. I think I’m going to have to climb to them. Luckily they are all so distracted that no one has seen me arrive.”
“Be careful.” Jason sounder worried.
“OK, mate,“ Val responded.
As she stood upright, a gust of wind almost knocked her back down. Gritting her teeth, she climbed over the first gap between carriages. Val knew it would be OK as long as she didn’t look down.
The music stopped suddenly. She heard cried from below and, risking a glance down, she saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing, and were looking up at the roller coaster. It didn’t take Val long to realise why. The very first cart had come off the tracks and was hanging precariously over the side. That was scary enough; the fact that it had two people trapped in it made the situation much worse. Val knew that these were the two people she had been summoned to help, but how would she get past the rest of the people and save them without drawing attention to herself? This was going to be impossible.
She scrambled over the last gap between the carts. She was now close enough to talk to the other passengers.
“Hello,” Val said cautiously, addressing the woman who was nearest to her and who was obviously in a state of shock. The woman looked at Val blankly.
Val needed to get past her to the front. “Excuse me,” Val said confidently, giving the woman a gentle push.
The woman moved back. Val was now stuck between her and the next victim.
There was an unexpected scream as the cart dropped another few inches, causing the other carriages, to which it was still attached, to tilt dangerously to one side. Val needed to work quickly. She remembered the man she had met in the cave with Max. He had looked and sounded official, and had had no trouble in getting people to obey his instructions.
“Hello!” Val shouted over the whimpers of the stranded passengers. They all turned to look at her. “I’m a trained rescue warden. Please let me through.”
The crowd parted, seeming relieved that someone was taking charge.
When Val got to the edge, she could now see that a woman and man were trapped in the cart, which was dangling, swaying gently in the wind, a hundred feet above the ground. The unfortunate couple were pinned in their seats by their harnesses, which, unlike everyone else’s, hadn’t opened. If they didn’t escape soon, they were going to fall to their deaths. How on earth was she going to get them out?
“Jason, can you hear me?” Val shouted.
“Here,” Jason responded immediately.
“I need to get two people out of a rollercoaster cart. They are trapped by their harnesses. Any suggestions?” Val questioned.
“What powers did you use to get the people out of the cave?” Jason responded.
Val replayed the scene in her mind and saw herself shocking the door so that the hinges broke down.
“I punched the door and disintegrated the rocks, but if I do that here the whole thing will fall down.”
“Could you maybe focus your power on the harnesses?” Jason replied.
“Yes, I think I could.” Val smiled.
“OK you two.” Val addressed to heavily built men who were standing behind her. “I want you to hold my waist with one hand each. I’m going to hang over the edge to reach the cart.” The men nodded. “With the other hand I want you,” she pointed at the first man, “to grab and hold the woman’s hand.” “And you,” she pointed at the other man, “do the same for the man, do you understand?” Val sounded very confident and once again they nodded in agreement. “OK, let’s do it.”
Val turned towards the petrified couple who were looking up at her. The men lifted her over the edge, to the horrified screams of the crowd below. “Hi, I’m Val.” She fought a moment of intense nausea as she looked down at the gathering crowd who looked like ants. “Take these men’s hands.” They did as she said; she seemed to be the only one here with a plan.
“I’m going to make the cart shake, but not too much.” Val could see the fear on their faces. “I need to do this quickly or we are all going to fall so hold on to those hands really tightly.” Val placed her hands on the cart and started to focus her energy onto the harnesses. As the cart began to shake the couple instinctively tightened their grips. Looking down again, Val saw that there were camera flashes going off and a few video cameras were aimed at them.
“This isn’t enough, Jason, it’s not coming apart,” Val said. The couple looked at her, the panic on their faces growing. She did her best to smile back.
“Try harder. You need to shake the whole thing apart,” Jason replied tensely.
“I’m going to make it a little rougher, guys,” Val shouted back to the men.
Now Val pushed all her energy into her hands. The whole cart began to shake, slowly at first but as Val built up momentum, it became more violent. The woman was crying, but Val couldn’t stop. At last the cart started to come apart. Nut and bolts, and rivets rained down on the spectators below, who starting yelling angrily.
“Nearly there. Hold on.” Val warned, seeing that the cart was on the point of total disintegration. “Be ready to drag them up.” Val was beginning to feel faint from focusing her energy for such a long period of time. How much longer could she keep this up?
When she was on the point of exhaustion, there was a large bang and the cart started to fall. There were more screams from the crowd below and Val found herself and the couple hanging over the edge, held in mid-air by the two men.
Val let her arms hang loose as she took a breath. She could feel herself fading out of consciousness, but she knew she still had to touch the couple. As they all hung precariously above the onlookers, Val reached for the woman’s hand, which sparked. Then she turned to the man and tried to grab his hand. She couldn’t quite reach him. Looking up again, she noticed that one of the men who was holding them was smirking at her. “Damn!” Val thought as he let her go and pulled in the woman. Val slipped. The other man was also grinning in Val’s direction, and she knew her time was up. Two people to help; it added up that there were going to be two villains.
There was no way she was going to get out of this one. She was hanging mid-air and there had been no second blue spark. Then the second man released her waist and she began to f
all. As she tumbled past him, the man who had been trapped in the cart just managed to grab her hand. She felt the second spark and, once again, started to fall.
Val landed violently on the hard tiles of the toilet floor. She opened her eyes to be greeted by Delta’s familiar smile.
“Hello Alien.”
“Hello Yankee. Miss me?” Val let her body relax for a second. “I’m lying on the floor of a public toilet, aren’t I?” Val said feeling completely grossed out.
“Yup,” Delta laughed.
“Uggggh!! OK, let’s get out of here.” Val stood up, then realised that Fran was keeping people out of the toilets by holding the door shut with her foot. “Oh! Hi.” Val said lamely. “It’s OK. She knows everything.” Delta walked past Val and tapped Fran on the arm. “She’s one of us now.”
Fran’s expression told a thousand words. She had just seen Val reappear through an electric rip in time and land on a toilet floor in front of her.
Val forced a smile. “Welcome on board.” Fran pulled her foot away from the door and a woman burst in. She looked at the girls, tutted and then disappeared into a cubicle.
“Are you OK?” Fran asked Val as they walked.
“If I’m honest, I could do with a rest.” Val’s shoulders slouched.
“Delta told me that they know where you are and that you can communicate with Jason.”
Val nodded. She hadn’t thought about how this would make Fran feel. The truth was Jason hadn’t told Fran about any of this and that must hurt.
“Fran, I’m sorry that Jason hasn’t told you about me. He was sworn to secrecy.” Val felt uncomfortable.
Fran grabbed Val’s hand. “It’s OK, Val,” she said warmly.
“Thank you.” Val knew it was going to be impossible to dislike Fran.
“Right, let’s go.” Delta waved the girls towards the lift.
“What time is it?” Val realised she needed to get back to work before she did anything else.
“One-thirty,” Fran replied.
“Great, I’m late.” Val pushed both girls into the opening lift.
They travelled back to the shop in silence. Val was aware that this was a lot for anyone to understand and she couldn’t think of anything to say to make it easier; it just was what it was.
“Shall we come with you?” Fran asked from the car as they pulled up.
“No, I just need a little time on my own, but I promise if anything happens I’ll call you, OK?” Val smiled.
The girls agreed to meet Val at Shane’s when she had closed. When she opened up, she was greeted by a phone ringing. Making her way behind the counter she found her mobile phone buzzing away, her mum’s name flashing on the front.
“Hi Mum,” Val chirped, thinking it was lucky that she had got there just in time to answer the phone.
“Don’t you dare ‘hi Mum’ me, Valerie Sheridan Saunders,” Susan hissed. “What’s wrong?” Val was worried. Her mum never called her by her full name unless she was in serious trouble.
“Where have you been for the past few hours?” Susan yelled between sobs and shouting.
“At work,” Val replied.
“Don’t you lie to me!” Val could hear her mum’s voice cracking. “Your father is going to collect you as soon as he can get there. Don’t you dare leave the building. Do you understand me?” Susan shouted.
“Mum, please tell me what’s wrong?” Val was close to tears. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had heard her mum so mad.
“I’m watching you on TV. Valerie. Girl falls from rollercoaster and disappears. So now do you want to tell me why my daughter, and I know it was you, is being filmed falling off a rollercoaster in God-forsaken Skegness?”
Val could hear her mum sobbing on the other end of the phone. She couldn’t lie any longer. Val knew there would be repercussions to this but how could she hide the truth from her own mother?
“You’re right, it was me. We need to talk.” Val knew this wasn’t going to be easy but it had to be done. “Mum, I’m closing the shop now and heading home. I will explain everything, I promise.” Val’s throat had tightened up and she didn’t feel that she could say another word.
“You had better have a good explanation,” Susan said. Then, after a short pause she asked, in a softer tone, “Are you OK? Did you get hurt? It looked painful. What was that shaking thing you were doing? How did you get to Skegness and back so quickly? Is it my fault?”
“No Mum, this isn’t your fault. There is so much to tell you. I’m fine, a little tired and I could do with some food.” Val knew this would soften the blow. “So I’ll see you in about forty-five minutes, OK?”
“Alright Val. I love you.” Susan was crying again.
“And I love you too, Mum, to the stars.” Val closed her phone and stood in silence, trying to imagine what it was going to be like explaining everything to her parents.
She locked the shop. She didn’t care about books today, and she definitely didn’t care about what Mr Gallymore might say. She grabbed her things, but as she left the shop, she decided she needed to see Shane before she went home, just to explain that she might never see the light of day again.
As she arrived at the tattoo parlour, she was greeted by Delta’s mini and Jason’s bike. She took a deep breath and headed in. There was no sign of the girls and Shane was just taking some money from a client. Val gave him a feeble wave and went to rest on one of the waiting area chairs. Shane ushered the large and hairy customer towards the door and locked up behind him.
“Well, you are definitely news today.” Shane walked over to Val who had her head down. “Come on, I have someone I want you to meet.” Shane grabbed her hand and pulled her up.
“I can’t stop long. I have to get home to my mum. They know what they saw on TV so I have to tell them the truth.” Val sighed thinking how odd it was that Shane wanted her to meet someone at a time like this. Well, she would be a rat in a lab as soon as someone outside her family recognised her, so what difference would one more person make?
Shane walked in first and Val was greeted enthusiastically by Delta and Fran, who grabbed her, one on each side, giggling like little girls.
“You guys, I’m not really in the mood for fun. I have to go home and explain everything to my parents,” Val told them.
“They will be fine, and you’re not leaving until you meet our new friend.” Delta pulled Val along, grinning disturbingly from ear to ear. “How could they be so oblivious to my situation?” Val thought, walking into the gym where Jason was waiting with a serious expression on his face.
“I know you want me to meet someone, so can we just get on with it,” Val said wearily. “I really need to go home.” “I just wanted to know how you are. Are you OK?” Jason seemed taken aback by Val’s attitude.
“Forget about moody boy and come over here.” Delta pulled Val towards the laptop. Val didn’t spot the head until she was nearly on top of it and the stranger stood up. Val felt her breath catch in her chest.
“Hello Val. I’m Sam.” He held out his hand. She hadn’t pictured him this way. She had assumed that because he was Shane’s friend he would be old. He wasn’t old, and he was the most gorgeous man Val had ever seen. No wonder Delta and Fran were almost skipping. Val held her hand out towards him. He grabbed it, shaking it powerfully. Val just stared at him. He was Italian looking; with perfectly gelled spiky jet-black hair; his eyes looked completely black, if that was possible, and his lips said kiss me now. Sam smiled at Val as he gently let her hand go. Val’s arm slapped against her side bringing her back into reality.
“Well hello, I’m pleased to meet you,” Val said, still unable to get her breath out or in.
Jason sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. “Yes, this is Sam and you are Val. Now, let’s talk about what happened on the rollercoaster.” “Oh…Yes…OK,” Val got her head together and followed Jason back to the others, who were now drinking coffees and cokes at the table.
“So Val, do you
like our new boy?” Delta winked at Fran and the pair dissolved into helpless giggles.
“I have to admit he is very nice.” Val said, flushing a deep, glowing red.
“OK, girls, we need to talk” Shane said. They all managed to calm down before Sam dragged his chair over and joined them.
“Right, Val’s face has been all over the news. We need to keep her safe until this dies down a little,” Sam said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“I know you all have my best interests at heart, but I’m not so worried about the daylight episodes; it’s what happens to me in my dreams that concerns me. This thing is hurting me in a time and space I can’t control, and in a way the government wouldn’t even think of.” Val looked to the others for some reaction, but they all looked as blank as Val felt.
“Maybe this will help you.” Sam held out a bound manuscript to Val.
“What is it?” Val asked.
“It’s a translated copy of your book.” Sam also gave her the zodiac book. “I managed to make a program to translate the pages from Theban to English,” Sam said.
The girls all looked suitably impressed by Sam’s impressive skills, while Jason huffed into his coffee.
“Thank you. I really can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me.” Val placed both books into her bag. Her pocket started to vibrate; Val pulled out her mobile “It’s a text from my dad; I really do need to go home. My mum and dad have seen the news too and they are worried sick. I’ve got some serious explaining to do. Can you take me Delta?”
Delta nodded her head.
“Can I talk to you again?” Sam asked.
“Will you still be here tomorrow?” Val responded, hoping he would say yes.
“Yes, I’ll stick around for a few days. I’ve got a new gadget for you too.”
Val felt her heart skip and then the buzz at the excitement of receiving more goodies.
“Right, see you here tomorrow then, if I haven’t been taken to area 51.” Val walked towards the door with Delta in tow.
The Thirteenth Page 21