by S. C. Ransom
I sat up in bed considering my day and realised that what I had said wasn’t entirely true. I had remembered about Richmond Green. Perhaps if I let my thoughts wander then eventually my subconscious would let something useful and relevant through again.
The day was bright and clear, so I decided to retrace some of the walks I had done with Callum just in case something useful struck me. I threw a bottle of water into my bag and set out, remembering to set the house alarm before I left. If Catherine was going to come back, I didn’t want to make things easy for her.
The long walk down to Walton Bridge was uneventful. The swans at the sanctuary took no notice of me at all, much to my disappointment. Callum obviously wasn’t with me on my walk, but I carried on, hopeful that at some point, something would become clear. The Thames was looking very still as I started to walk along the path, and the birds were quiet; it was almost as if the entire place was waiting for something. I walked as quickly as I could to the little glade on Sunbury Lock Island, which I always thought of as our special place, but when I got there it was just an empty patch of grass. There was no evidence of Callum, and absolutely no clues about what I should be doing. I sank down on the grass, defeated.
I sat there for ages, looking at the river and hoping that something – anything – would show me that he was around, but nothing changed. The river continued to slide gently past on the long journey that would take it through Twickenham and Richmond, and finally into central London and the shadow of St Paul’s. My thoughts went back to that first day, the day everything changed, when I found the amulet in the mud. I remembered the hissing swan and the feeling of the wire biting into my fingers as I tried to break it off, and that first glimpse of the sparkling stone as it saw daylight for the first time in … who knows how long. I could imagine Veronica tormenting the poor man to the point when he took off the amulet and sank it into the river, tied to that big rock, and then let her take his memories. And I remembered the moment when I had nearly thrown it back too. Callum had been there then, and his voice had stopped me, but I bet Catherine had been close by, waiting to pounce. I shuddered again at how close I had come to losing everything.
I glanced at the empty patch of pale skin on my wrist, and longed to have the amulet, to be lifting it out of the sand again. As I pictured the little beach I realised that I had to go, I had to return to where I had found it. Maybe there I would find the answers I needed.
I had missed the train, so I unlocked the garage and dusted off Josh’s bicycle. He had stopped using it the minute he had passed his driving test, but it all seemed to still be in reasonable working order. I gathered a few essential supplies and set off for Twickenham.
Given how unfit I was I made reasonable time, and was at the White Swan within an hour. I chained the bike up against a railing, making sure that I had put the wire through all the bits that someone could steal, then made my way round to the front of the pub. The water level in the river was falling so the terrace was in no danger of flooding. About half the tables were taken, and there was a low hum of conversation. I had a quick look at all the tables, but there was no one there I recognised.
Up in the bar it was dark and gloomy after the sunshine outside, and the barman looked as if he would much rather have been anywhere else. He served me a glass of lemonade without trying to draw me into conversation, and I was quickly back outside where I could keep my sunglasses over my bruises. I picked my way through the tables until I came to the only free one overlooking the little beach. The water wasn’t quite low enough yet to see where I had uncovered the amulet so I sipped my drink and let my mind wander. This had to be an important place, I reasoned. Everything that I had had to do with the amulet had started right here.
This had been the place where I had first seen the strange movement in the stone, and where I had been when Callum had first seen my image. Despite everything that had happened, all the pain, all the heartache, I wouldn’t want to change the past. Given the choice again to forget, to not pull the bracelet from the mud, I wouldn’t take it. I knew that I would rather have loved Callum and lost him, than never to have felt his love.
I couldn’t help sighing, encircling the wrist where the amulet had been, tracing the tan line with my finger. Even that was fading away; within a week it would be gone forever too, I realised. I wished I knew what I was supposed to do! But even as I had that thought the fear gripped me again. Did I really see Callum or had I only seen what I had so desperately wanted to see? Was all of this a wild goose chase? Did I really believe that the amulet could regenerate? It had been smashed into a thousand tiny pieces, the metal twisted and torn, the delicate plaits ruined. That fabulous, shattered stone…I looked at my palm where I still had a grubby plaster covering the wound. Slowly I peeled it off. The line on my palm was red and angry, but it was on its way to being healed. Would I, in time, heal too? I slowly rubbed it, the part of me that had had the last contact with the amulet’s heart, and stared into the water with all its secrets. I desperately hoped that we would find a way to communicate, but if it didn’t happen, well, at least I had loved him. I also knew that I should move on, put all this behind me and find someone new, someone nicer than Rob, someone normal.
No, I decided, I wasn’t going to heal, and I wasn’t going to settle for someone normal. I was going to fight. I wanted Callum too much to give him up. I needed to think, to discover what he had been trying to tell me, to remember what else might be in my elusive dreams. I had to find a clue, to discover if I should start digging, or trawling the Thames, or what.
Digging. That word triggered a memory; perhaps that was what Callum had been trying to tell me? Maybe I needed to start digging again. Maybe the amulet was already back in the sand, waiting to be rediscovered.
I had been so engrossed in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed that someone had slipped into the seat opposite me, and the voice made me jump.
“What’s so interesting about the muddy old water then, Alex?” Rob’s voice was as sarcastic as ever.
“I don’t remember inviting you to sit down.” I sat up straight and looked him in the eye, trying to appear unflustered.
“I couldn’t resist when I saw you here. Back to the scene of the crime, eh?”
“As usual, Rob, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do. In fact, I know you do.” The irritatingly smug smile was playing around his lips. I couldn’t remember what it was about Rob that I had found attractive. The more I looked at him now, the more he reminded me of a weasel.
“Well, you’re going to be disappointed.” I shrugged and looked away, back towards the water. I desperately wished Callum was with me. I couldn’t fathom what Rob wanted, but I bet that it wouldn’t be anything that would benefit anyone but him.
He was clearly keen to draw me into conversation. “I’ve been talking to your friend, Catherine. I didn’t realise that the two of you were so close.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you take that bracelet back off Grace, and then give it to Catherine. That’s not very nice for poor old loyal Grace, is it? She must have been gutted.”
“What bracelet?” I replied sullenly. I didn’t want to be drawn into a conversation about the amulet, especially not with Rob.
“Oh, don’t play games with me. The one you’ve been so protective about. The one you clearly still wish you were wearing because you keep rubbing your wrist where it used to be.” That was a bit observant for him, I thought, and I resisted the temptation to put my hands under the table. “She must be such a good friend,” he continued in his sneering tone.
I sidestepped his question, trying to change the topic. “So when did you see Catherine? I thought she’d left town.”
“No, not yet. We had a drink yesterday.”
Everything stopped.
If he had seen the amulet yesterday, Catherine couldn’t have smashed it.
I realised that I was staring at him with my mouth open and shut it
with a quick snap. “Yesterday?” It was all I could do to stop my voice from quivering. “Did she have the bracelet on then?”
“Uh-huh,” he grunted, taking a long swig of his pint. I didn’t see how it could be possible, I had watched her smash it with my own eyes, I had seen the pieces. My fingers instinctively rubbed the scar on my palm as I replayed the scene in my head. She had ripped a bracelet off her arm, that was true, but given the distance between us and the pounding rain, I hadn’t got a really clear look at it. I had seen what she had told me I was seeing. The pieces clicked into place: the blue shard that had cut me had seemed more like glass than the complex layered facets of the amulet’s stone. I had assumed that was because the life had gone from it, but it was because it really was only glass!
Catherine had tricked me to stop me searching for her and the amulet. She must have known that I would never give up, never rest until I got it safely back. She had smashed a fake bracelet. This way she got the amulet’s protection and at the same time got me out of her hair. It was inspired.
All of this had flashed through my mind in a fraction of a second. I smiled tightly at Rob.
“So did you finally get to have a good look at it?”
“I’ve seen what I needed to see.” He smiled enigmatically.
Catherine still had the amulet, that was what Callum had been trying to tell me. I was so excited it was all I could do to stay in my chair. Callum wasn’t lost to me for ever. I tried hard to stop myself from laughing with delight. That was the answer I had been searching for. I was going to see Callum again! I beamed at Rob, and he sat back in his chair, startled.
“You’re positive it was the same bracelet, though? My bracelet?” I needed to be sure.
“Uh-huh,” he grunted again. “It looks valuable too. I’m surprised you gave it up.”
“Let’s say Catherine was very persuasive.” I lifted my hair and took off my sunglasses for a minute so he could see the full extent of bruises, expecting him to be shocked, but he just raised his eyebrows.
“Quite the little minx, isn’t she?”
“You know, Rob, it would be really helpful if you happened to know where she might be now. I’ve got something for her.”
He gave me a knowing smile and took another long swallow of his drink.
“Come on, what do you care about Catherine?” I continued. I could almost hear his brain whirring and I wondered what it was that he was plotting. He wasn’t generally that sophisticated.
“I don’t know where she is right now, but I do know where she’ll be tomorrow.”
I sat up straighter in my seat.
“Where? What’s she going to do?”
“As you said, she’s going away. She seems pretty fed up with everybody here.”
“Where’s she going?” I repeated the question, trying not to be tetchy. “Did she say?”
“West Country, I think. Was it Newquay? I can’t really remember. She told me that she has a train ticket for tomorrow morning.”
My heart sank. I needed to find her before she disappeared. If she left the area it would be next to impossible to find her again, and I had to get the amulet back. I tried to keep calm, to not appear too overexcited.
I took a sip of my drink while I considered Rob. “You two seem to have been getting on very well. It’s a shame for you that she’s leaving.”
“Well, she and I do have a certain … understanding, that’s true.”
“Don’t you fancy your chances then, Rob? She is gorgeous. And with her winning personality, she’s just your type.”
“Oh, I’m in there, I know that. Just not sure I fancy all the baggage she carries around with her,” he said, with more than a hint of arrogance.
“Really? What baggage is that?”
He shot me a knowing look. “Don’t give me that, Alex. You know all about Catherine and her weird ways.”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“She’s got some very strange ideas, and a certain unconventional way of solving problems, wouldn’t you agree?” He gestured towards my cheek.
I was with him on that. “She’s not going to be on my Christmas card list, that’s for sure. So, um…” I hesitated, trying desperately hard to work out a way of getting him to tell me what he knew. “Couldn’t you just put her weirdness to one side, especially as you have an ‘understanding’?”
“Well, I did think about it, and I have to admit, we’ve spent some time together.” The smug smile was back.
“So, you must be meeting up later then, given it’s her last night in the area? A bit of a farewell drink while you help her to pack her bags?”
He gave a hollow laugh. “Not my idea of a fun night, that’s for sure.”
“Really? Why ever not? Has she turned you down?”
“No! As if!”
“I see. She’s too much even for you to handle, is she?” I smiled sweetly at him as I said it.
“I just don’t fancy carting myself all the way over to North Sheen, that’s—” He stopped suddenly and looked flustered. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Where was that, Rob? North Sheen? Is that where she lives? Is that where she’ll be getting the train in the morning?”
He looked trapped. “What are you talking about? I never said that!”
I smiled to myself. Rob had given away what I needed to know.
He was silent for a moment, swirling the remains of his pint around in his glass. Finally he looked at me. “You think you’re so clever, Alex, but you’re the one with the mashed-up face.”
He drained the last of his drink and put the glass carefully down in the middle of the table.
“It’s been good to see you. I’m glad we’ve been able to have this last drink. No hard feelings, eh?”
“For what? No hard feelings for what?”
“Oh, you know, everything.” He stood up and I felt suddenly cold in his shadow. “See you around.”
I watched him go with mixed emotions: some annoyance and frustration but mostly exultation. Catherine had tricked me. Somewhere, not that far from here, the amulet was waiting for me. And with the amulet, Callum.
I knew what I had to do the next morning. I couldn’t risk missing Catherine. Once she got on the train and into London the amulet would be lost to me as effectively as when I thought it had been smashed. I couldn’t sleep, trying to remember the details of what I had seen that day in the rain. It had been so murky I guessed that it wouldn’t have been so hard for her to pass off a fake amulet as the real thing. And of course, once I thought it was destroyed, I wouldn’t be troubling her again. Olivia had been right: Catherine was downright evil.
I scoured the train timetable and got myself out of the house really early. Josh had come home late the night before but I had managed to avoid too much in the way of conversation and sneaked off to bed. The festival had clearly been a good one; he looked exhausted and was sound asleep in the morning when I put my head round his bedroom door. I left him a note and walked quickly to the train.
Even at six in the morning the carriage was full of commuters off to their offices. All looked equally miserable and no one said a word. I fought against the tide to get off the train at North Sheen and considered my options. I was lucky that it was that particular station. There was only one way in and out, over a narrow footbridge and on to a single central platform. I set myself up so that I could watch the people coming over the bridge before they would notice I was there, with my hair tucked into the hoodie I was wearing as a feeble disguise.
After several hours and an interminable number of trains coming and going, the glint of sunlight on someone’s hair caught my attention. The familiar dark gold made my heart leap for a moment as the head bobbed along the footbridge. I slunk back into my hoodie as she turned to come down the steps towards the platform.
It was Catherine, swathed in huge dark glasses and carrying a small wheelie bag. It obviously wasn’t heavy as she was having no trouble carrying it down the long flight
of steps, and she looked poised and elegant as she wheeled it along the ramp towards the ticket office.
The second she was out of sight behind the little building, I ran to the bench seat on the platform, pulling out my paper. I slumped down low and held the paper up as high as I dared without looking like a bad detective. I could see her out of the corner of my eye as she walked past the ticket window and on to the platform. She looked up at the departure boards and then at her watch. I couldn’t see the amulet and I had to try really hard to resist the temptation to leap up and wrestle her to the ground. I was going to follow her until we were somewhere slightly more private, then demand it back. I knew that I wasn’t physically strong, but I also knew that her passion and need were going to be no match for mine. I could win, and when I looked her in the eye she would be able to tell that she had no chance. I just needed to be away from too many witnesses, so I clenched my fists in my pockets and waited.
She took me by surprise when she got on to the train heading away from London, and then I almost missed her getting off at Richmond. I saw the oversized glasses before I realised it was her, and hurriedly stepped off the train. She was standing on the platform looking at a pocket timetable. I dodged the people walking down the platform and nipped behind the old ticket inspector’s booth. I could peer through the grubby glass without too much danger of being spotted.
Two trains went past and she didn’t move, and I was beginning to think that I had been rumbled, that she was playing with me, but then the fast train pulled in. With limited stops to Reading and a change there to the main West Country line, it was a fast option for getting to Cornwall without going through London. Catherine boarded the train and I got on a couple of carriages down from her. I kept a lookout that she didn’t get off again, but she disappeared down inside the carriage.
It was time to decide what to do. The train didn’t stop for a while so I had her captive, but then once I had the amulet off her, I had nowhere to go either. But it was too late to worry about that. I had about twenty minutes before the first stop. I walked through the next two carriages, surprised at how few people were actually travelling. At the door of the one where I thought she was I stopped and pulled down my hood as far as I could. I couldn’t see her through the little window. Ready to fight to get my amulet back, I opened the carriage door.