The thugs looked at each other, doubtful expressions on their faces. They were all up for evil deeds. But this was no ordinary person. It was a Morpher and, what’s more, it was the son of Lord Renzo, one of the most powerful men in the city. The retribution he would seek if something happened to his son would be colossal.
“Anyway, I’m pretty sure that Renzo’s the reason we lost Marky and Donovan – and Blaze. They didn’t just disappear – they were killed, probably by him; people said they saw a massive creature each time one of them went missing. He needs to be taken out.” Finn spat on the ground.
“You think I’m going to let him make a fool of me ever again? What happened with that little tart the other day won’t happen again. Binx, Dave – I want you to follow him, let me know if he has any ‘special’ friends. If we can’t get the prick, we’ll get someone he cares about.”
At that moment, a teenage girl with chestnut-coloured hair appeared in their view. The men turned their heads simultaneously to stare at her. The girl, upon catching their looks, held a rather frightened expression on her face, as though she was about to bolt. The thugs straightened themselves up from the walls and moved towards her.
“You alright?” one of them said, smiling, his eyes betraying a more sinister agenda.
The girl was noticeably trembling.
“N – no. I’m lost. I came by train from the country; I’ve ended up on the other side of London, I’m supposed to be in North.”
“Well, we can help you,” smiled another, wrapping his arm around the girl’s shoulder.
“I – I don’t know, I might just try to find my own way –”
“Nah, we know the city like the back of our hand,” said another, moving to the other side of the girl and placing a hand on her arm. “Come with us, we’ll make sure you find your way.”
The girl didn’t feel she had a choice. The six men escorted her away, but not to the train station; to an old abandoned warehouse where they did unspeakable things to her, filling the building with further evil to add to the many monstrous crimes they had already committed. Finn Pearson chose not to take part. Amidst the earth-shattering screams of the girl, he could only think of one thing: Raphael Renzo and the damage he would inflict on him. He vowed this would happen, no matter what.
Chapter Seven
“I need you to come out with me after you finish work this evening,” said Daphne, while her holographic face hovered in the air. “Edge is bringing a friend, you see, and the friend has requested that I bring a friend – so, naturally, I thought of you!”
“Erm … I can’t.”
Skye was on her lunch break, queuing up for something to eat in the local fast-food restaurant. Surrounding her were lots of other workers who were also on their breaks, chatting to one another or engaging in conversation with the many holographic faces that had emitted from their tag devices. Daphne had called her at that moment, requesting that she tag along with her, her Brazilian boyfriend, Edge, and Edge’s unknown friend. It was clear to Skye that her friend had formulated a twisted idea in her mind that there would be some kind of ‘double-date’ that evening.
“And why not?” demanded Daphne, looking displeased.
“Well …” Skye was reluctant to tell her friend that she would be seeing Raphael, knowing the reaction that would follow.
“Yes?”
“Well, I can’t because … I’m sort of seeing someone else.”
Daphne looked enthralled.
“Really? Who?”
“Just some guy. You haven’t met him.”
Daphne shrieked.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you had a date?” she squealed. Everyone in the restaurant went quiet and looked round. Skye managed a weak grin, highly embarrassed.
“Who is he?” Daphne continued in that loud, screeching voice. “Names – I want a name!”
“Can we talk about this later?” said Skye, through gritted teeth.
“No way. Who is it? Oh my gosh …” Daphne’s eyes widened. “It’s Raphael, isn’t it?! I knew it – I knew you’d see him again! You like him, don’t you! Does he feel the same?”
Skye hurried to pay for her salami sandwich and rushed out of the store before Daphne’s loud voice could further reveal the ins and outs of her private life. She had purposely refrained from telling her friend about the time she had met Raphael at Bert’s, nor about the two weeks she ignored him. She didn’t think she would have been able to handle Daphne’s constant chatter on the subject. Now she knew it was time to fill her in, but she was not particularly looking forward to doing so.
“It is Raphael,” she began reluctantly, but Daphne immediately started screaming with delight, throwing her hands to her face.
“I knew it! I knew it!” she squawked in excitable, fog-horn tones. “Why didn’t you tell me? How could you keep this from me? How long have you been seeing him? How –”
“I haven’t been ‘seeing’ him,” said Skye desperately, trying to find a deserted spot in the park where there were no people around. “We’ve just spoken a couple of times and he just wants to get to know me because of the whole Morphing thing; it really isn’t a big deal. I’d appreciate it if, you know, you didn’t tell anyone …”
“Yes, yes, yes, not a word! The point is, why have you kept this from me? We’re supposed to be friends, Skye! I want details – now!”
So for the rest of her lunch hour, Skye found herself going against her own wishes and telling Daphne about the time they had met at Bert’s Bubble Tea’s; she told her about Sasha; about not speaking to him for a couple of weeks and about how they had arranged to go for something to eat that evening. Daphne could hardly contain her amazement throughout.
“I'm going to let it slide that you kept this from me, only because you’re my best friend,” said Daphne in a mixture between excitement and disapproval, “but don’t dare ever do it again! So he invited you out for tea! That’s so sweet, what did you both talk about?”
“Well, not much. Mainly about the Morphing really.”
“And you said Sasha was there? Blonde with blue eyes, right? I know about her, Skye. Be careful. She’s an absolute snake. She’s known for stealing other girls' boyfriends. Do you remember Serena? The girl who was in our Geography class at school? Well, she was going out with this guy for two years – and she caught him with Sasha one day! It destroyed her, poor girl. So be warned!”
“I’ve already got an idea of what she’s like, thanks,” said Skye grimly, the very memory of the girl filling her with irritation. “And, thankfully, Raphael’s not my boyfriend so that’s not something I need to worry about.”
“Oh, come on,” scoffed Daphne. “He invited you out for tea – he’s been calling you all the time! It’s only a matter of time before you get together. Why were you ignoring him anyway?”
“I just didn’t really want to talk to him,” said Skye uncomfortably, biting into her salami sandwich. “Just didn’t want to get too familiar, you know …”
Daphne’s expression softened and it was a gentle tone that she next took with her friend.
“Skye, why do I have a feeling that this has got something to do with Jono? That was a long time ago … You’ve got to move on from that! If Raphael likes you, you’re not seriously going to let what happened back then get in the way of this?”
“Raphael doesn’t like me like that. Trust me on this one. Look, I have to get going. Ned’s going to switch if I come back late. He already had a go at me yesterday for something that happened. I’ll chat to you later, OK?”
“OK – have a great time with Raphael and tell me all about it tomorrow!”
Daphne’s face vanished instantly and Skye finished off her sandwich, making her way back to the HQ of Trixaction Cinemas.
*
Aroma was a busy Chinese buffet based in Shepherd’s Bush, a town about ten minutes away from Brentfordshire. It was one of the few towns that had not been so badly affected by the riots and many of the
buildings remained untouched. The town used to be home to the famous shopping centre, Westfields. Unfortunately, Westfields had suffered greatly at the hands of the rioters and burned to the ground within hours; the popularity of this centre meant that the rioters had paid little attention to the surrounding area within Bush. Thus, Aroma, which was opposite the Westfields centre, still flourished just the same as it had done two centuries ago.
“You have to try their ‘Tenpanyaki’ section,” said Raphael, once the two were both seated at a table, having ordered their drinks. “The food’s presented raw and you just pick and choose which dishes you want. Then they cook it in front of you … or you could just get yourself a plate of raw beef,” he smiled.
They sat there for a while eating the many different dishes, sipping on their green tea and apple juice. At one point, they were approached by three men who had just entered the restaurant. Raphael hailed them, introducing them to Skye as several of his friends and they all turned to look at her.
“You his new girl?” grinned one of them immediately, his eyes twinkling. Raphael shoved him backwards and the man almost flew into a large bowl of chicken wings.
“Erm, no,” said Skye, looking embarrassed.
“This is Paddy – a mate of mine,” Raphael glared, while the three men chortled. “He asked you that because he’s probably going to try and hit on you. It might be best to say no before he even attempts it.”
“Hey come on, what do you think I am?” said Paddy, still chuckling. “Some kind of sleaze?”
He turned to Skye.
“On another note, do you have a boyfriend?”
Raphael chucked one of his chicken bones at Paddy and it hit him squarely on the forehead.
“Nope,” said Skye, still rather red. The other two men were laughing, shaking their heads at Paddy, who was rubbing his forehead where the bone had whacked him.
“Get out of here, you three,” said Raphael, eyes rolling. With one final laugh, the men smacked Raphael on the back, told him they would see him later and said their goodbyes to Skye, Paddy winking at her as he left.
Raphael sighed.
“Sorry about them,” he said apologetically. “Good friends of mine, even if they do come across as annoying at times. I had a feeling he’d hit on you though; you’re the type he goes for. He likes his exotic girls.”
Rather flustered at being called ‘exotic’ by Raphael, Skye dug her fork into her seaweed and started chomping away.
“You’re very popular, aren’t you?” she said. “Seems whenever we go somewhere, there are always people who know you.”
“Well, I’ve known those three since I was about twelve. They’re good guys; always had my back when I need them, especially when I’ve dealt with Pearson and his lot. As for Sasha, I’ve known her for a couple of years; we saw each other more regularly a while back but we hardly see each other now, only at the occasional house-party or something.”
“She seems to think you’re pretty close,” said Skye stiffly.
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, she told me you have a thing going on,” said Skye before she could stop herself.
Raphael raised his eyebrows.
“She said that? Wait – is that why you left the other day? Because you were jealous of her saying that?”
Skye flushed bright red, her muscles tensing.
“If you’re going to start with that nonsense again, I’m leaving!” she snapped.
Raphael tittered.
“I’m joking. Seriously though, I don’t know why she thinks that. There is nothing going on between me and her. Like I said, she’s not my type.”
He stared at Skye as though expecting her to say something. She, however, thought it best to change the subject in case she gave off any indication that she was remotely bothered whether he and Sasha had a ‘thing’ going on or not.
“So … what is it that you do when you’re not having fights with thugs?” she said, pouring some green tea into her cup.
“I work in an art shop during the day,” replied Raphael. “Not too far from where I live. Monday to Friday, the standard hours. It isn’t a very exciting place to work but I enjoy it. I like to paint in my spare time.”
“Really? You’re an artist?”
Raphael’s face went a little red and his green eyes shot downwards.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I just love painting. Mainly nature … and animals …” He coughed. “So, anyway, then on weekends I volunteer at a dog’s home in Battersea, which is in South London. It’s a historical place; many dogs that have been abandoned end up there. It makes me so mad when I hear about the nasty things people have done to them – starved them, beat them, thrown them into the streets; for some of them, it was just because they were old or sick. I tell you, it makes me want to find these people and throttle them.”
His face had become more and more fierce while he was talking. Skye stared at him in wonder. She had initially assumed that he wouldn’t be working; after all, he was so rich and surely there would be no need. She hadn’t expected that he would be a painter. That was a surprise too. Most of all, she didn’t realize he was so passionate about animals. As a fellow animal lover herself, she found this quality most endearing and her respect for him grew.
“What about you? What do you do?” said Raphael, calming himself by tucking into his egg and sweetcorn soup.
“Well, most of my free time is spent reading up on endangered species. I really want to go abroad and work with Bengal tigers.”
“Really?” said Raphael, his eyes brightening. “See, this is why you should spend more time with me. Look at it like a trial run – I am a tiger, after all.” He grinned. “So do you work? Go to college?”
“I work in customer services,” replied Skye. “It’s very boring. You just get shouted at all day by people who have nothing better to do than complain.”
“I bet they wouldn’t be shouting at you like that if they knew who you were,” said Raphael.
At first, Skye was confused. What did he mean if they knew who she was?
Then she realized he was referring to her Morphing ability.
“Oh – no, don’t think so. I doubt it would make a difference.”
“You think? Most people automatically respect you if you’re a Morpher. Or they’re afraid of you. Don’t you find that’s what happens when you tell people what you are?”
Skye shook her head.
“I rarely tell people I’m a Morpher,” she said.
“Why not?” Raphael looked surprised.
“It’s just not something I really want people to know,” said Skye uncomfortably.
“Why is that?”
Skye shrugged.
“Don’t know … bad experiences maybe?”
“What happened?”
This guy asks a lot of questions, Skye thought.
“I’m just used to people reacting in a bad way to me whenever they find out. People usually criticize what they don’t understand. You’re right, people have feared me … but I haven’t liked it. I’ve lost people because of it.”
Raphael frowned. Skye was a little unnerved that she was revealing so much about herself.
“People have treated you badly because you’re a Morpher?” he said. “This sounds so bizarre to me. I’ve had the opposite – most people, when they find out what I am, seem to like it. Sometimes they’ll ask me to transform just so they can see. I don’t know why people have reacted badly to you because of your gift.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re Raphael Renzo and I’m Skye Archer,” said Skye, unable to keep out the glum tone in her voice.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“Well … you just have a bit more, that’s all. You’re rich. Popular. Everyone knows you and likes you. Plus, you’re not bad-looking. Maybe that’s got something to do with why people are more accepting of you than they are of me.”
“Why should it?” said Raphael, plainly confused. “Yeah, everyone knows me because my family are famous in the city. Doesn’t mean everybody likes me though. You don’t know the amount of times I’ve almost been killed by Pearson and his lot. And as for my looks, why would that make a difference?”
“I just mean that you have other things about you, which means that people will overlook the fact you can morph,” mumbled Skye, not liking where this conversation was heading.
“Overlook? Skye, morphing isn’t a bad thing! It’s a gift!”
“I know it is. I never said it wasn’t and I feel blessed that I can morph. I’m just saying that you and me are two very different people and the experiences you’ve had are nothing like what I’ve had. I’m not saying anything bad about the fact that you have all these things; I just mean that they have a bearing on how people treat you.”
There was a rather tense, awkward silence between them. Skye tried to fill it by gulping down her tea, almost burning her throat in the process. She gasped for the apple juice, which Raphael handed to her in a hurry.
“I want to change the way you think about this,” said Raphael, while Skye recovered from her tea fiasco and dabbed her throat with a tissue. “You want to keep your morphing ability a secret. I don’t know what bad experiences you had and I’m sorry to hear that you had them at all. I guess I find it difficult to understand because I’ve not experienced anything negative with mine – well, apart from when I was young and received a warning for transforming once. I’ll tell you about it one day. But I don’t like to hear that people have been nasty to you because you can morph – and into a wolf of all creatures. If anyone gives you anymore hell because of it, they’ll have me to deal with.”
There was a ferocious gleam in his eyes and his handsome face looked determined, almost protective. Despite herself, Skye was touched and couldn’t help the warm feeling that raced through her at these words.
“Thanks, but I’ve learned to deal with it myself over the years,” she said, but not unkindly. She smiled at him and his face softened, smiling back. She dropped her gaze after a few seconds, bashful, and the waitress came over to take their plates away.
How The Wolf Lost Her Heart Page 8