“They must have clubbed together to get it for me,” said Mark. “I would have nicked it from somewhere if I’d been home probably.” Then he coughed and glanced at Mario. “But not any more, sir. No, sir. I have mended my ways. Sir.”
We all laughed.
“Sounds like your family knows how to enjoy Christmas,” said Selene.
Mark nodded. “Yeah. I guess so. Might be the last one in that house though. Come the New Year, they’re going to be evicted. The landlord put up the rent. My dad lost his job. My mum has done everything she can, but no joy. My family will be homeless.”
“Maybe something will turn up,” said Selene. “You never know what’s around the next corner.”
“Yes, I do. Homelessness,” snapped Mark, and he punched his right palm with his left hand. “And there’s nothing I can do about it. Not in here where the stupid social services sent me.”
Oh god, here we go with the sob stories again, I thought when I noticed that Mr O was giving me a very pointed look.
“What?” I asked.
“And what do you think of Mark’s situation?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah. Tough. Win some, lose some.”
Mr O looked at me with narrowed eyes, then sighed heavily. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t happy thoughts.
“What did you get, Lynn?” asked Selene.
“A scarf from Mum. She wouldn’t send a photo. Not of her and him. She knows how I feel about my stepfather, but…”
“And how do you feel about him?” Selene asked.
Lynn shifted about, then stared at her feet. “I guess… well, sometimes people deserve a second chance don’t they?”
When she said that, we all knew that she was talking about herself and not just her mum or her stepfather. And then I noticed that Mr O was giving me his pointed look again.
“What? What?” I asked.
Mr O just pouted by way of reply. He’s such a drama queen, I thought. “I’m not psychic,” I said. “If you’re trying to tell me something just tell me.”
“Hah!” said Mr O. “Now she wants to listen. Honestly! In all my days I have never had one like you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“One who ignores me like you do. Really. Leos can be self-centred at the best of times, but you! You take the prize. Leonora – it’s clear what you have to do. But have you listened? Learned anything? Oh no. First you smashed your phone and then you rip up all my messages. All that good advice I’ve been sending you. All in the bin. Don’t think I don’t know.”
Oops, I thought. “Oh that. Yeah. I know. Er… sorry? Um. I will try to be better. Is that what you want to hear? Is that why you’re giving me those pointed looks?”
Mr O sighed heavily. “I give up,” he said, then he turned to the others. “This time here could have changed everything for Leonora, but I fear she’s going to blow it by being stubborn. It does happen sometimes. Not often. Most girls are over the moon to be a Zodiac Girl. Okay sometimes it takes some adjusting to, but never, never before have I had one who rejects the whole idea and breaks her phone.”
“Oo er,” I said. “Listen to you, lord of the luvvies. Just because you’re not the centre of attention you don’t like it. Honestly, the way you go on, you really do think everything revolves around you, don’t you?”
There was an awkward silence, then Selene coughed. “Well, it does actually… he is the Sun.”
“Okay,” said Mark. “Enough. What is all this? Maybe someone could explain. This zodiac thing? Even that deli guy who was here with the food was on about it. He called you a Zodiac Girl, Leonora. What’s it all about exactly?”
“Every month, somewhere on the planet, a girl is chosen to be a Zodiac Girl…” Selene began. I glanced at Mr O. He seemed to have gone into a major sulk which made me want to smile. I was beginning to feel very fond of him. He could stick his bottom lip out further than I could.
“Chosen how?” asked Lynn.
“Different elements every time,” Selene continued. “The only thing that each Zodiac Girl has in common is that it happens at a turning point in her life and for one month, she gets the aid of the planets.”
I sighed. I knew there was no keeping the fact that I was this month’s Zodiac Girl hush-hush any longer. “Blah blah de blah. Oh come on, surely I’m not the only one who has heard them going on about the Moon and the stars and Mr O saying he is the Sun.”
“Yeah, but I thought he was speaking metaphorically,” said Marilyn. “You know, like ’e’s a little ray of sunshine and that.”
I shook my head. “Nope. He thinks he is the Sun. As in the planet. Don’t you, Mr O?”
Mr O stuck his bottom lip out even further while Jake burst out laughing. “No way,” he said.
“Yeah. No way. You’re saying to me that Mr O said that he was the manifestation of the Sun?” asked Lynn. “Do you think that, Mr O? Do you?”
“I’m not saying anything,” said Mr O, “in fact, I may not stay around if I’m not going to be appreciated.”
He got up and flounced off into the dark garden. Mario, Selene and Hermie rushed after him and we could hear them reasoning with him a distance away. I could just about make out, “She’s not going to change.” “Some you just have to accept are stuck in their ways…”
“It’s not just him,” I continued. “Lunie Petunie thinks she’s the Moon, Dr Cronus thinks he’s Saturn, Mario is Mars and Hermie is apparently none other than Mercury, the planet of communication here in earthly form as a motorbike messenger boy.”
Marilyn rolled her eyes to the sky. “Pff. Yeah, right.”
“Are you winding us up?” asked Mark.
I shook my head. “Honest. That’s what they think.”
Lynn looked troubled. “Oh. My. God. I thought there was something different about them, but I thought that it was you, me, Mark, Lynn and Marilyn who were supposed to need help.”
“I know. Do you think that our parents know that they signed us away to a bunch of crazies?” asked Marilyn.
“Probably not,” said Lynn. “But… how come no-one’s mentioned any of this zodiac stuff to the rest of us. Only to you.”
“Not just me. Dr Cronus goes on about it just about every day in classes,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess… but I thought that was just a lesson in astronomy and no-one listens to ’im much anyway and ’e didn’t say much about you being a Zodiac Girl,” said Marilyn as behind her Mr O, Mario, Selene and Hermie returned to the fire.
Jake leaned over and whispered, “If what Leonora is saying is true or even half true, best play along – not let on that we know they need locking up right?”
Mark, Marilyn and Lynn quickly nodded and assumed their usual blank expressions.
“It’s all true!” boomed Mr O. “We are the planets and Leonora is Zodiac Girl. Every case is different depending on the needs of the girl in question, but never before has someone so ruthlessly rejected our help!”
“Okay. So what does Leonora need then?” asked Jake. “Maybe we can help.”
Mr O glared at him for a second as if doubting his sincerity, but then he sat down cross-legged by the fire. “Only she can discover that,” he said. “I was only here to guide and advise. But if she won’t listen what can I do?”
“I’ll listen,” I said. If listening meant breakfast, I could do that easy-peasy plus I had genuinely grown to like Mr O, mad or not. “And I’m sorry if I’ve been rude. Yeah. I am. Really.”
Mr O looked at me very closely as if trying to gauge if I was being sincere. I looked back at him and smiled.
He looked taken aback, but smiled in return. “Hmm,” he said.
“So please, what’s next on my zodiac agenda?” I asked.
“Neptune,” he said.
“Neptune. That’s a new one. I don’t think you’ve mentioned that before,” I said doing my best to look as enthusiastic as I could.
Mr O still looked a little suspicious.
“So w
hat’s Neptune all about then?’ I asked.
“You really want to know?”
I nodded.
“Mystery,” said Mr O. “Illusion. Neptune governs the realm where nothing is quite what it seems. The realm of dreams, in fact.”
“Can’t wait,” I said. “And when will I get to meet him or is it a her?”
“Him,” said Mr O. “Tonight. Neptune is in conjunction with Pluto at an angle to—”
“Two of them. A double whammy,” Lynn interrupted. “Lucky you, Leonora.”
“So what’s Pluto about?” asked Marilyn with a sly wink at me. I winked back. Mario Mars couldn’t accuse me of not being a team player now. We were backing each other up brilliantly.
“Pluto is the planet of transformation,” said Mr O.
“Impressive,” said Jake.
“He is,” said Selene. “Depending on where Pluto is in your birth chart, can mean matters of life or death.”
“Life or death huh?’ said Lynn. “Sounds ser…ious.” She almost blew it on the last line by laughing but checked herself just in time.
“So are these guys coming to the lodge then?” I asked.
“It is up to them how or when they choose to make themselves known to you,” said Mr O.
“Sounds spooky,” said Marilyn. “You just give us a shout if you need a hand, Leonora.”
I felt touched by her offer to help. It was the kindest gesture she’d made since I had arrived at the lodge. “What did you get in your package?” I asked, and put on my best “I am really interested” look. Mr O continued staring at me, so I turned and winked at him. He looked more confused than ever.
Marilyn showed us the photo of her mum. She was about forty, with short dark hair and a kind but sad face. Marilyn looked wistful as she showed it, and I wondered if she was regretting how she’d behaved towards her mum in the past, just as I was beginning to regret the way I’d acted with my parents.
And then it was my turn. I so hoped that Mum or Dad didn’t say anything that gave anything away. Poppy was my secret and, even after all that had happened, I wasn’t ready to share her with the group. They hated me enough as it was. They’d only hate me more when they found out what I’d done. I took a deep breath and turned on the DVD player.
Mummy and Daddy’s image filled the seven-inch frame.
Mummy looked tearful, then she also took a deep breath and began to speak. “Darling Leo. We’ve only been given a minute to talk to you on here so I’ll make it quick. I just wanted to say that I love you very much. And I always will.”
Next to her, Daddy nodded.
“We regret that we had to take such severe measures,” Mummy continued, “but felt we had no option. None of us could go on as we were.”
“And, Leonora,” Daddy interrupted, “we want you to know that we don’t blame you. We never have. It wasn’t your fault and you mustn’t blame yourself. We love you now and we have always have and—”
“—we hope to see you very soon,” Mummy finished for him.
For a few seconds, it felt like I was home, where I belonged, but then the screen went fuzzy then black and I was back around a camp fire with a bunch of strangers outside a lodge in the middle of the moors on Christmas Eve on a cold, cold night. The sense of belonging that I had felt earlier faded away like warm breath in the air on a freezing night and I made myself put my inner wall back up stronger than ever.
And then the inevitable questions came.
“What mustn’t you blame yourself for?” asked Lynn.
“What did you do?” asked Mark.
“What don’t they blame you for?” asked Jake.
“Nothing. For being a pain probably,” I said. It was a half-truth. I couldn’t tell the whole story. No-one knew that. Not even Mummy and Daddy. And no-one would ever understand. Mummy and Daddy can say that they don’t blame me, I thought as the fire grew dim and the others grew sleepy, but they don’t know what really happened on the day that Poppy died. Only I know that and I can never forgive myself.
When I got back to the dorm, I wrote another letter.
Dear Mummy and Daddy
I am miserable. Please let me out. Everyone hates me. I hate myself. I know I am bad, but I will try to change. I am sorry about everything.
Yours,
Leonora
Chapter Thirteen
Christmas future
I was in a hospital room. There was an empty bed. A man and a woman were putting clothes and bits and pieces into a suitcase. Where was I? In the hospital where Poppy was? No. It wasn’t there, although the man and woman looked familiar. Not my mum and dad, though. No. It was Jake’s mum and dad. What was I doing watching them? How did I get there? And where was his younger brother?
A man with a white beard and what appeared to be a broom walked in. “You’re dreaming,” he said, and his broom turned into a trident, like the one that you see the king of the sea carrying. Least you do on the bags that Mummy used to get our fish and chips in when we lived in England in our country house. The shop she used was called Poseidon. I think he was the king of the sea. It was then that I remembered why the village of Osbury had seemed familiar when we had driven through it on the way up to the lodge. Of course. That’s it! I thought as it came back to me. It was where Mum used to go to do her shopping and get her hair done. I knew I had been there before.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“The planet Neptune,” he said.
“Ah yes. I was told to expect you. You rule the realm of dreams, yeah?”
The old man nodded.
“Cool. I’ve met some of your mates already,” I continued. “So where’s Jake’s brother then?”
Neptune shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”
“What do you mean didn’t make it?” I gasped.
Neptune acted out someone’s throat being cut.
“You mean kaput?” I asked.
He nodded and disappeared then a moment later, another figure appeared. He looked like a handsome goth prince. Younger than the king of the sea. He was tall, dressed in black with a pale long face and hair tied back in a ponytail. He bowed. “Leonora. At your service. I’m PJ.”
“Pluto?”
“Indeed. Some call me PJ, but I am also known as Pluto, ze great renewer.”
“Excellent. And I’m dreaming apparently. Is that why Jake’s parents haven’t noticed me?”
PJ nodded. “Zey can’t see you.”
“So why are you here?”
“I’ve been sent to help wiz your transformation. To show you a few things.”
“Like what?” I said. I was enjoying the encounter with him and Neptune. I felt as if I was floating and everything was unreal.
“Like your future.”
“Oh. Okay. But what about Jake’s brother? Is what happens to him part of my future?”
“Zat depends on you.”
That made me feel confused and I tried to make myself wake up, but it didn’t seem to be happening. PJ beckoned for me to follow him out of the room.
It was weird. I walked out through the door, but instead of finding a hospital corridor we were out in a small room in what appeared to be a shabby hotel. I could see through a grimy window that it was raining outside. In a room of the hotel there was a family eating a takeaway pizza. They also looked familiar. I soon recognized them. They were Mark’s family, complete with cat, but they didn’t look as happy as they had on Mark’s video phone. Even the cat looked fed up. A middle-aged lady looked like she had been crying and the man with her who I presumed was Mark’s dad looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It made me feel sad just looking at them. It’s a dream, a dream, I told myself, although it was beginning to feel more like a bad dream. Not my responsibility. Thank God my family at least has a home, several in fact, and food and lots of money.
“Hey, PJ, my man,” I said. “Charming though you are, why are you showing me the future of my fellow inmates but not what’s ahead for me?”
“Look, Leonora, look again. Zeir future iz tied wiz yours.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “I don’t think so. Me rich. They poor. I will be going home to a very nice house with staff and these people… well…”
“Homeless,” said PJ in a flat voice. “Zey are in a hostel for ze homeless.”
“Whatever. So what’s next on the agenda? The starving people in Africa?”
PJ gave me a filthy look. As if what he’d been showing me was my fault. “Don’t you care, Leonora?”
“Yeah. Course. But for one thing, this is a dream. And in real life, there are people who work to help the poor aren’t there? Charities. Social workers. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a fourteen-year-old girl. What can I do?”
“More zan most fourteen year-olds, zat’s for sure,” PJ scoffed, and I got a strong feeling that he didn’t like me. I pulled a face at him as he beckoned me on. I was glad that Mr O was my guardian and not this intense-looking misery.
“I am so not interested. Come on, then, show me something impressive. Show me my future.”
PJ paused for a second as if considering my request, then he beckoned me on. “You asked for it,” he said.
We left behind Mark’s family, walked though the door of the hostel and found ourselves in a shop. A scruffy shop full of all sorts of things: clothes, shoes, toys, curtains, pots, pans in fact, it looked like… a charity shop! I’d never been inside of one before but had seen them from the outside. What am I doing in here? I wondered. It felt so peculiar. Remember, you are dreaming, I reminded myself as I looked around and saw…
Noooooooooooooooo! No. No. No. No. NOOOOOOO.
This time it wasn’t the people who look familiar. It was the stuff on sale. Rails and rails of what looked like MY wardrobe. And my shoes! And people were pawing over it like it was on sale! No waaaaay, I thought. Of all the things I’d seen, this had to be the worst.
“These are my things!” I said as I tried to pull a pair of shoes out of a woman’s hand. To no avail, my hands went right through her. And then I noticed the price on the shoes. Two pounds fifty! Totally freaky!
Zodiac Girls: Brat Princess Page 11