Perfectly Reflected

by S. C. Ransom

  It was eerily quiet. There didn’t seem to be anyone in there at all, no one making phone calls, no mothers with toddlers, no businessmen folding their newspapers noisily. I sat down in the first set of seats and leaned my head towards the window. From that angle I could see down the long line of seats but there were no shoulders or elbows in view. I got up silently and moved to the other side of the train, and peered down the line there. About halfway down I could see an arm clad in black, the elbow resting on the window sill. Suddenly she moved, leaning her head against her hand, looking straight towards me.

  I shot back upright, hoping that she hadn’t seen me. This was my chance. This was my last opportunity to get Callum back. I wasn’t going to waste it.

  I took several deep breaths as I considered my totally unsophisticated plan. Utter determination was my solitary tactic. I decided not to creep down the carriage, but stood tall, head covered by the hood, sunglasses in place. I wiped my sweaty palms down my jeans, and curled my fists ready to fight. Moving swiftly down the carriage, within seconds I was standing facing Catherine, boxing her in.

  “The game’s up, Catherine. Hand it over.”

  She ignored me completely, looking out of the window as a dreary industrial estate slid past.

  “Don’t play games with me. I know you still have the amulet, that you tricked me last week. Now, I’ve asked nicely. If you don’t give it to me, I’m going straight to the guard to call the police. You tried to kill me, and there are witnesses to both that and you stealing from the bank. No one is going to believe a word you say. I’ll just tell them that I was a victim of identity theft, and you’ll spend years in a prison so horrible it will make life as a Dirge seem quite pleasant.”

  I paused in my tirade, hoping that she would look at me, but she continued staring out of the window. “Give me back my amulet!” I stood in front of her, instinctively balancing on the balls of my feet, my fists tight.

  Still nothing. It was a brilliant tactic on her part, and hugely infuriating. I steadied myself, trying to remain in control; losing it wasn’t going to help. But I could almost feel the tingle in my wrist – Callum was so close! All I had to do was get the amulet off her and he and I would be together again. I thrust my hand towards her. “Now,” I said in a low voice, hoping to sound quiet and menacing. Finally she moved, turning her huge sunglasses towards me.

  “I don’t think so.” Her voice was dead, completely stripped of emotion.

  “What makes you think you have the right to keep it, Catherine? It’s mine and you know it,” I hissed, still struggling to stay calm. She shrugged and returned to looking out of the window, hands resting in her lap.

  I couldn’t resist, and grabbed for her wrists. But there was no fight in her; she offered no resistance as I shoved her sleeves up to her elbows. She wasn’t wearing the amulet. Holding both her arms tight I leaned in close. “Where. Is. My. Amulet?” I hissed at her.

  She turned to look at me and the sudden closeness of our faces made me back up. Behind those huge glasses it was really hard to gauge her mood. I let go of her arm and pulled the glasses from her face, determined to look her in the eyes.

  She considered me contemptuously. “It’s gone. I don’t have it any more, OK?”

  I sat back on the seat opposite in shock. “But… but who…?”

  “Oh, pull yourself together, you pathetic creature. Does it really matter?”

  “What! Of course it matters!” The anger was slowly overcoming the shock. “I’m going to get it back – it’s mine.”

  “Well, good luck with that.” She smiled icily, leaning forwards and snatching her sunglasses back from my numb grasp. She slipped back behind her impenetrable mask.

  “Who was it? Who’s got my amulet?”

  She ignored me, looking back out of the window at the passing scenery. I felt like shaking her. The disappointment at losing Callum again, just when I thought he was so close, was almost unbearable. “Why do you care now? Why not tell me?”

  “Actually, I just don’t like you. Isn’t that enough?”

  I was speechless again, this time with the injustice of it. Without me she would still be a Dirge, stuck in a miserable existence. She turned the great, fly-like lenses towards me, and a small smile started to play around her mouth.

  “You know, I can’t decide which would be more enjoyable actually; telling you now and watching you suffer, or making you wait and find out tomorrow.”

  “I don’t understand. What do you mean, tomorrow?”

  Catherine looked at her watch and then gazed at me coolly. “I might as well get to see it. I do like watching your agonies. You’re so obvious in your emotions.” The sarcasm dripped from her tone.

  A feeling of dread started to creep across me. What now? I took a deep breath. “Come on then, get it over with.”

  “Well, it’s all your fault anyway. Without you telling him all that stuff he would never have worked it out.”

  “Told who what? Come on!”

  “Can’t you guess? Who dislikes you almost as much as I do? Any ideas?”

  I frowned, trying to work out what she was getting at. “No, not with you.”

  “You are so dim,” she muttered under her breath. “Rob. That’s who hates you. I’m so glad to see that you took the bait. I didn’t think that he could drop the hint subtly enough, but he assured me he’d got you hooked. The boy’s gone up in my estimation.”

  “What are you talking about?” I gasped.

  She shook her head in disbelief. “Getting you on to this train. It was much easier than we expected.”

  I stared at her open-mouthed, realising that I’d been completely outmanoeuvred.

  “You and Rob?” A hollow pit had opened up in the bottom of my stomach. “What does Rob have to do with it?”

  “Listen, you stupid girl. He knows what the amulet is, what it does.”

  “How can he possibly know that? I didn’t tell him.”

  “Ah, but you did tell him, just not directly.”

  I resisted the urge to slap her. “How many times do I have to tell you? I told no one, least of all that self-centred idiot!”

  “Let me take you back, back to that day in Kew Gardens when you so willingly gave up everything for me. I believe that you lost something.”

  The penny finally dropped. “The memory card? Rob found the memory card?”

  She nodded, smugly. “As I said, all your own fault.”

  My mind whirled, and various things suddenly became clear. That was why Rob had the passworded files about me on his computer that had upset Ashley so much, why he was suddenly interested in talking to me again, and why he wanted to see the amulet more closely. “Is that what you meant about it being my fault? When we were talking at the pub?” One perfect eyebrow rose briefly from behind the glasses in response. “But I thought that you had lost that memory, that Olivia had taken it from you?”

  “Oh no, I’m perfectly clear on this. It’s definitely your fault.”

  “So what did Olivia take? The memory of how the Dirges could escape? Was that it?”

  Catherine didn’t answer, just continued to regard me silently. I knew she was trying to irritate me, and I also knew that I couldn’t afford to get distracted. Finding the amulet was my priority.

  “What on earth does he want with the amulet? I mean, talking to Dirges is hardly Rob’s sort of thing.”

  “He doesn’t intend to keep it. He’s smarter than he looks, that boy.”

  “What’s he going to do with it?” I asked, puzzled.

  This time Catherine laughed out loud, startling me. “He has a beautifully malicious streak along with his greed. He’s going to sell it to the papers. In fact, he’s organised a bidding war.”

  “But why would they be so interested?”

  “You know,” she said reflectively, “that’s what I’m going to miss about you; you are so trusting, so … naive.” She made it sound like some sort of disease.

  “Get to the point,
” I said tersely.

  “I suppose I might as well amuse myself. The train isn’t stopping anytime soon, so you have nowhere else to go.” She gave me one of her thin, evil smiles. “Let’s go back to the beginning; what does the amulet let you do?”

  She was deliberately winding me up, her voice hugely patronising. I took a deep breath and willed myself to stay calm. “It allows me to talk to Callum.”

  “Exactly. And who else?”

  “The other Dirges, of course.”

  “Excellent!” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “And for a bonus point can you tell me what you have to do to qualify to be a Dirge?”

  “You have to drown in the River Fleet,” I hissed through gritted teeth.

  “Give that girl the prize! That’s right, drown; that would be the key word. The amulet allows us to talk to people who have drowned – Who. Are. Dead!” She punctuated each word individually, but I still wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

  “So, what’s your point?”

  “Let’s think about that for a moment, shall we?” she continued in the same patronising tone. “Who else has something that allows you to talk to dead people? That could be tested by scientists?” She paused and took off her sunglasses. “Definitive proof of life after death? It’s dynamite, and Rob knows it.”

  I felt my mouth drop open in horror: she was right. If Rob told the papers then the world of the Dirges would be turned upside down. People would pay small fortunes to gawp at them, and the scientists would have a field day. The amulet would become so important, so valuable, that my chances of ever getting to use it to speak to Callum would be effectively zero. And as soon as the Dirges started draining the memories of the people who had taken it off, killing them in order to escape, all hell would break loose. It would be impossible to ever get the amulet back, and Callum would still be comprehensively lost to me.

  “I have to stop him,” I muttered, getting to my feet. “He has to be made to understand.”

  “Oh, it’s far too late for that. That’s the delicious irony of you chasing me all this way on the non-stop train. That’s why we made sure you followed me, to get you well out of the way. He’s on his way to the publicist right now.” She laughed again. “You’ve already missed him. By the time you get into London the amulet will be way out of your reach!”

  “You’re joking; you must be.” I could feel the tears starting to come again and fought them back, but what she said rang true. I couldn’t believe that I had fallen for Rob’s trick.

  “No, sweetie. Time to say bye-bye, I think. Such a shame that Callum will always be just too far away for you to be able to reach him. I’m sure the publicist will have a field day with his chiselled good looks too. He’ll become quite the ghostly pin-up.”

  It was such a hideous prospect, and so inevitable too. “Catherine, help me. Please. You can’t want to see that happen to them all. They were your friends, your family. Just tell me where Rob’s going and I can stop him.”

  “What makes you think I know where he’s going?”

  “If you’ve been so clever making plans with Rob to trick me, you must know.”

  She shrugged and looked away, and I knew that she knew she had made a tactical error. I pressed on. “Come on, he was bound to be bragging about how clever he was to have worked it all out. I’m surprised that you didn’t want to benefit more from that. Why are you running away now?” She put her glasses back on as I spoke, hiding her face, and turned to look out of the window. It all suddenly became clear to me.

  “Did you do a deal with him?” I asked incredulously. Catherine continued to ignore me. “You did, didn’t you? What is it, you get a cut of the cash in exchange for leaving you out of the story? Ongoing anonymity for the only undead person on the planet? Frankly I’m amazed that you care.”

  “Well, that shows just how stupid you are then,” she spat back, unable to maintain her silence. “I’m not doing this for free, and anyway, I’m not the only ‘undead person’, as you put it.”

  “What do you mean?” Catherine suddenly looked shifty. “Come on,” I pressed. “Who are you talking about? Is it Veronica? Is she still here too?”

  Catherine turned as far as possible towards the window but stayed silent. I realised that, for the first time, I had the upper hand. I decided to go for it. “So under the circumstances you’ll want me to stay quiet too, I presume?”

  I paused for a second, enjoying her discomfort. Catherine shifted even further in her seat, trying to turn her back to me. “OK, this is the deal. I won’t tell either, but only if you tell me where Rob is going.”

  She turned and shot me a look of pure venom. “You’ll never get there now anyway, so actually it doesn’t matter. He had an appointment this morning, with the guy who does the publicity for all the celebrities – Steve Scales. Or with his people, anyway. He was childishly excited about it.”

  “You mean the one who deals with the reality TV contestants?”

  “Yeah, him. He’ll get Rob some good coverage.” Infuriatingly she was right; the guy was good at his job.

  “Do you know where his office is?”

  “If you think I’m going to tell you anything else then you are very much mistaken. I’ve already told you more than you deserve. Now, go away. I don’t want to have anything else to do with you ever again.”

  “Suits me, and if I find that you have been messing about in my life again, there’ll be trouble.”

  “Oh, I’m so scared,” she bit back sarcastically as I turned to leave. I ignored her and started to walk down the carriage to find the guard. I heard her voice call after me. “I look forward to reading all about you both in the papers. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving couple.”

  I slammed the carriage door behind me as I left.

  My mind was racing as I walked down the train looking for the guard. I had to get there before Rob talked to the publicity people about the amulet. If someone else got to see the Dirges it was all over, I would never get the amulet back. It would be too valuable, too exciting for them to give up. But the other, bigger, problem was the danger. If he made a good connection with them, Rob could end up summoning the wrong ones when he started showing the amulet off. That had the potential to be suicidal. I shuddered at the memory of watching Grace being attacked by Catherine and I couldn’t wish that fate on anyone. But to be able to stop Rob I first had to find out where he was and get there as fast as possible. I pulled the huge phone out of my pocket and started trying to work out how I was going to persuade him. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t take the slightest bit of notice about what I was saying, but he had to be warned of the danger; I had to try. I unlocked the keypad and groaned out loud: the only number in there was Josh’s. I had no idea what Rob’s was. I was just going to have to chase after him.

  I finally found the guard sitting in his little cubicle in the middle of the train. I took off my glasses and tried to look as miserable as possible, letting myself well up again. I knocked gingerly on the window.

  He slid the door open. “Yes?” he asked in a bored voice.

  “I’m really sorry,” I said in a voice suddenly more full of tears than I had intended. “I think I’ve got on the wrong train. I need to be in London.” I offered him my ticket. He looked faintly horrified at being confronted by a potentially hysterical teenager. “All right, love, calm down. I’m sure we can work it out. Now…” He pursed his lips and picked up a well-thumbed thick directory off a shelf. “Let’s check your connections.”

  He quickly worked out that my best option was to continue to Reading and then get the non-stop express directly into Paddington. From there I could get the Tube wherever I wanted. He sold me an extension to my ticket and closed his door again with a distinct air of relief.

  The next thing was how to find out where to go. There was no browser facility on my mobile, so I couldn’t do it that way, and waiting to get to an Internet café in London was just going to slow me down. I needed someone to help
me. Luckily I had one number memorised.

  “Grace, hi, sorry, look I need a favour, really quickly.”

  “Alex, calm down. What’s the matter? Are you OK?”

  “Not really. Catherine tricked me. She didn’t destroy the amulet but she doesn’t have it any more, either.”

  “What! Where is it then? What’s she done with it?”

  “I haven’t got time to explain, I’m sorry. I’m on a train, and I need an address in London. Can you look it up for me?”

  “Of course, hang on a sec while I log on.” There was a pause and I could hear her long fingernails tapping on the keyboard. “Right,” she said finally. “Google is ready and waiting. What do you need to know?”

  “The office of that publicity guy, Steve Scales; the one who does all the reality TV people.”

  “Really? OK, if you say so.”

  “I need the address, and the quickest way to get there from Paddington.”

  “Paddington,” she said evenly. “You know, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry, but there’s just no time. Now, have you got it?”

  “Hang on…” Grace was muttering away to herself and tapping on the keyboard as we finally pulled into Reading station. I hurried off the train to check which platform I needed for the express. Further along I could see Catherine stepping casually down to the platform, her almost empty suitcase in her hand. I took a wide route so that I didn’t have to go too close to her, grateful that I was never going to have to speak to her again.

  I ran up the stairs and looked at all the departure boards. My train would be arriving in just a few minutes, so I didn’t have time to lose. I hurried down on to the right platform and positioned myself where the front of the train was going to stop. Across the tracks I could see Catherine on the westbound platform, studiously ignoring me.