Circle of Arms (The Shades of Northwood 2)

by Wendy Maddocks

  “Where’d he go?”

  Katie blinked and the world lost it’s safe, blunt edges, becoming lethal corners and angles again. There was a sticky sweet coating on her lips and she sucked at it desperately, not quite sure why. She was aware of an arm holding her up against her head board – a human arm, with the bulk and weight that not even Jack could emulate. She turned, saw it was Leo and instantly tensed every muscle in her body. It was an unconscious reflex she had to being touched by any man who wasn’t her father or Jack. It had come as quite a shock to find herself relaxing completely with Jack so quickly but that was the effect he had. Leo on the other hand…A few inches taller than her but quite wiry in build, he had some air of danger about him. Although he was helping Katie now, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit afraid of him.

  “Where’s Jack?”

  Her words hadn’t yet gained the accusing air they would do later; this was more of a sleepy and mildly curious question. But Leo had already felt her go hard next to him and eased his arm from under her head, moving to the other side of the room to give her space. “I told him to go.”

  “Why? Why does my mouth taste like I just drowned in syrup? Why are you sitting here with me?”

  “Slow down.” Leo put his hands up and heaved himself up onto the desk. He glanced down at the laptop. “You need to do a reboot. What’s this?” Something silvery glinted from the mess of black wires and program user guides written in just about every language but English. He held up a seven pointed star and twisted it to catch the soft evening light.

  Katie shrugged. Something, a memory, was trying to fight its’ way out of the jumble in her head. She tried to squint at the star but the way it was catching the light was too bright to make out much.

  “You got some weird shit, bitch,” he said, tossing it onto the bed as he yanked the door open.

  “Leo, wait!” He paused. Katie wondered why she had just said that. It wasn’t as though she wanted him in her room any longer than was necessary. And yet, something tugged at her. “Everything I told you last week… it’s all true. All of it. I hate it, I really do, and I know you probably don’t believe it but it’s going to happen. You’re going to die.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Fight it, run from it, ignore it, do what you want. But it’s real Leo. And I think I figured something out.”

  “What? Two and two is twenty two? Fetch the engines, bitch is on fire.”

  “Fine, get out.”

  He just stood in the doorway, not moving, not saying a word, just staring at her with those hard blue eyes and knowing she would crack under his glare.

  “I’m not playing stupid games. Get out of my room!” She opened her mouth, getting ready to scream, and he bolted out. Katie threw a pillow at the closed door in frustration and threw herself forward on the mattress. After a minute of just lying there and refusing point blank to think about anything, Katie stood up and stumbled around, half-asleep already, filling her new messenger bag with stuff she thought she might need for her classes tomorrow. Giving the bag a test lift, she decided against about a third of the books and notebooks she had planned to take, doubting she would be asked to handwrite a novel on her first day. Was it seriously only the first proper day tomorrow? Katie felt as though she had lived a lifetime in Northwood.

  Over the course of the first morning at Levenson Academy of Sports and Action, Katie found herself in a group of ten students her age with another group of teenagers a year older taking over the other half of the classroom. They were given their timetables which gave them English, maths and science lessons together, four elective classes with lower ability but older students and then an hour and a half each day given over to sports. Not counting the time people might want to put in before or after hours. She spent the morning puzzling over her schedule and trying to figure out how she could get from drama to psychology when one finished as the other started on the other side of the building. By some amazing stroke of luck, that Friday afternoon clash was the only overlap in her classes. The group she was in spent the rest of the morning doing team-building exercises and ice-breakers. None of which Katie had the least bit of interest in. Not while her head was crammed with the memories she had unlocked last night. God, there were so many things in her head this morning. Remembering her tutors’ name – Mr Conroy – five minutes after he had finished speaking was a minor victory. The afternoon would be some tests in their three core subjects to get their levels and make sure the work set wasn’t too easy or too hard. Although Katie usually did quite well under pressure, she wasn’t looking forward to them today. She didn’t like things she hadn’t had chance to prepare for.

  Yeah, like anyone gives a crap what you want.

  It was a harsh truth, but a true truth. Okay, the English exam was going to be a fail! Nearly dying hadn’t been on her to-do list, nor had killing a man to avoid it. Watching a girl walk into the open arms of death – not on the list. Being raped, treated like a criminal, leaving home when she needed her family most – not there either. But those things had happened whether she liked them or not. And that wasn’t even counting the things she had found out this weekend.

  “Hey, wakey wakey! Don’t make me touch.”

  Someone was waving a tanned hand in front of her face and talking as if they had been trying to catch her attention for a while. Katie had taken advantage of the lunch break to find a quiet corner of the cafeteria and let her brain switch off for a few moments. Being a college full of teenagers and barely-out-of-their-teens, hush was impossible but the constant chatter was rhythmic enough to ignore.

  “Huh?”

  “Earth to planet Katie. Y’in there?”

  “What do you want Leo?”

  “Answers.”

  “Yes, you’re a shit. Get lost.”

  “How’s your morning?”

  “Probably the same as yours.”

  “You’re not worried about anything?”

  What was she meant to say? Yes, I’m worried Dina really is dead and my boyfriend was the one to kill her; I’m worried that I’m so tired because my life is running out and not because I’m still getting my strength back; I’m worried that I murdered a man and I’m worried about… I’m just worried about me. So she grinned and hoped none of those thoughts were showing in her face. “Screw the civilities, Pointer. Not in the mood.”

  “I’m trying to help you. You looked terrible last night. Jack said it was nothing to worry about but you look worse today. I might be able to help if you tell me what’s going on.”

  “Very Christian of you.”

  “The Bible tells you to help the weak and the stupid, not that you gotta like ‘em.”

  “It’s - it’s hard to explain here. Later, okay?” She had less than zero intentions of talking to him about anything later. “Jaye!”

  A tiny girl with a backpack that looked as though it weighed more than her waved at Katie and started moving through the crowd, shouldering through the people she could and melting through the rest in that supernatural way she had. No-one seemed to notice. “Hi!”

  “Glad to be back?”

  “Oh, yeah. First day exams – what every girl dreams of.”

  “At least you knew they were coming.”

  “So did you. It was in your student starter pack.” Katie glared at Leo. “It came Wednesday and I thought you were a bit too busy to bother reading it. I was trying to help.”

  “Help?” She laughed, a little too high and loud to be genuine. “Man, that’s a good one.”

  “Seriously, if you can spell your name, count to ten and know the formula for water, you’ll cruise them.” Jaye reached over to her food tray and stole a handful of spicy wedges. “Why does food always taste better when it’s someone else’s? Anyway, you two looked knee deep in serious thought – anything interesting?”

  “She won’t say.”

  “I told you… later. It’s too p
ublic here.”

  “So there’s something to tell?”

  “Maybe.” Who was to decide if her thoughts were even worth talking about? Perhaps she was just imagining problems where there weren’t any.

  “I’ll tell you what’s wrong,” snapped Leo. “Thursday morning, I found you lying in this patch of waste ground at the edge of town… soaked through, shivering. I had to carry you home – you were a dead weight and I couldn’t even tell if you were still breathing.”

  Jaye elbowed him in the ribs and hissed, “A little louder next time, Leo!”

  “She should know this. It wasn’t your hero, your cowboy, it was me. Well, us. I’ve known you a fortnight and you’re going to use yourself up by Christmas if you carry on this way. So sharing your next suicide mission before it gets you killed would help.”

  “What do you want me to do- thank you? Yes. I am grateful. But I really don’t have anything to tell right now.” Just a bunch of theories and thoughts and potential problems. “I’ll visit Dina on the way home,” Katie said, ending that conversation.

  “Her dad thinks they should turn the machines off this week.”

  “And…”

  “I hate the idea, to be honest. While the machines are on, she’s still with me, still alive.”

  Katie felt something land hard in her head and she could see two jigsaw pieces in her head that she knew fitted together but could she fit them? Puzzles were never her forte. Later. Everything would work out later.

  “You gotta remember – she wanted this. It might not be the way she imagined but she cut her wrists, Jaye. She wanted to die.”

  Jaye picked her bag up and lost herself in the crowd, leaving behind a half-eaten lunch and a heavy silence.

  “Nice one, genius!”

  “How did I know she was so sensitive? She was telling us the other day how Dina chose this for herself, how she had to be okay with her own decisions. I thought she was okay with it too.”

  What was it with boys? Maybe tact and sensitivity were just missing in male DNA. “Saying she’s coming to terms with it doesn’t mean she means it.”

  “Huh?”

  Man, this was so the wrong time of the month for this crap.

  “Time’s nearly up people. Just ten more minutes.”

  Mr Conroy was watching over his small group as they finished their maths papers – thankfully the last of the day. Jaye had been right; the questions hadn’t been overly taxing and Katie had got through most of them without two much trouble. But whilst she was drawing a Venn diagram on the last question, her mind began to wander and the mental jigsaw pieces suddenly crashed together. It was so simple. One circle was Dina, the other was the life support. The question had morphed from percentages of blue aliens, red aliens and then aliens who were half and half, into one asking why Dina hadn’t come back.

  She scribbled her answers and checked her paper through until the bell rang, tapping her pen impatiently. And then she slapped her test down on the front desk and bolted for the door. Not even the call to write down the reading could slow her down. The first chapter of every textbook she owned had been skimmed over last week – therefore, homework pre-empted and done. It wasn’t far to the medical centre from the big building and she didn’t want to lose a second getting there. Lugging this sack of books she wouldn’t need until tomorrow would only slow her down so Katie headed for one of the banks of lockers in the common room and checked the number on her key. 101. Well, that bode well, didn’t it? She stashed her bag in the metal cupboard, taking out what she needed, and took a quick look around the common room. Groups of students chatted, laughed, danced to the radio. They all seemed so happy and carefree. Katie wished she was one of them. “One day,” she promised herself. “One day I’ll be like you.”

  Just not today.

  With one final glance, she left the academy behind and headed across the grounds to the medical centre.

  “Miss Cartwright.” Dr de Rossa was standing by the vending machine in the reception area. “You look a little unwell. Are you feeling okay?”

  “Nothing an adrenaline jab to the heart wouldn’t fix. Can’t help me out, can you doc?”

  “Now, Katie. Be honest with Uncle Alejandro, are you keeping okay?”

  “Your name’s Alejandro? Filing that away for blackmail purposes. Pray I never have to use it.”

  “Evidently, your wicked streak is all present and correct.”

  “Alejandro?”

  “My parents never got very far through the name book. Either that or they had your sense of humour.”

  Dr de Rossa had parents? Grown ups were just… grown ups. Remembering they had lives too just weirded Katie out. The doctor was the doctor. It was so much simpler when people were only one thing.

  “You’re not suffering any after effects from last week are you?”

  Oh, right, last week when she had fainted at least twice, been drugged with Rohypnol, nearly taken her Uncle Billy’s eye out with a spoon – which made her feel like laughing when she thought of it, and then feel guilty about it – and had a long, this slash across her arm.

  “Or anything else?” He looked at her with the detached and professional gaze she had come to know well this year.

  Oh. Dr de Rossa had taken up the challenge she had joked about last week and read her file. “No, nothing at all. I’m feeling fine.” There was a crinkle to the doctors’ mouth which made Katie want to curl into his arms and give him the entire confession.

  A nurse pushed through the double doors, stripped off a pair of blue latex gloves and started shuffling through files on the desk. It reminded Katie of why she had come here in the first place – not for a chat, pleasant as that sounded. “Has Dina’s dad been to speak to you yet? Mr Bayliss, I mean.”

  “We had rather a long discussion earlier today actually but, without his permission, I don’t think I can tell you any more.”

  “No, that’s okay. Did he make any decisions about… you can’t say. Sorry.”

  “Katie, you seemed flustered.” Flustered? Did anyone even use that word this century? “More agitated than normal.”

  “Considering your knowledge of me goes as far as crying or unconscious…”

  “Point taken. I really don’t know you that well yet but I have a feeling I will. You sound… what’s the word you kids use… wired?”

  “Red Bull and nerves,” she said, neatly explaining away her erratic behaviour.

  “Mr Bayliss just left if you want to speak to him. I can’t help you, I’m afraid.”

  “No, but I’d like to talk to you soon if that’s okay. Tomorrow morning before school if we can. Until I’ve said my piece, don’t do anything to Dina.” Dr de Rossa looked uncomfortable which was enough conformation for her. “Please!” Time was already running out if she wanted to save Dina.

  “If Mr Bayliss makes a request then I have to respect that.”

  “Dina is almost twenty. More than old enough to make her own decisions right?”

  “If she is of sound body and mind and she is clearly neither.”

  “Believe me when I tell you she doesn’t want this. Just, please, don’t do anything yet.” Not until she had a chance to do a little investigating.

  First stop – Room 3. The two bed room where Dina lay hooked up to the machines that were performing her vital functions for her. Katie edged in, made sure nobody else was inside, then shut the door quietly behind her. Sitting on the very edge of the seat by the bed, she grasped the skeletal hand as gently as she could suddenly sure that the bones would crumble into dust under any weight as they had doe so often in her dreams. “Dina, I know you hear me. I know I can hear you in my head all the time. Please, tell me what to do.”

  Find a way.

  Helpful. Very helpful. “I’m trying to but it’s not easy. Just tell me where you are.”

  They call it The End Place. None of should be here.
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  “I… I don’t know where that is. ‘Can’t you even tell me how to get to you?”

  We don’t know either. We don’t know how we got here or why we stayed. But it’s better than the Other Place.

  The Other Place? “Oh God, Dina, can you give me some real answers? I haven’t got the head for riddles.”

  Send him. Tell him to find me. He’ll know where to go. Just like you know what to do.

  “What? I don’t know anything. Should I-?”

  But Dina – and the buzz of voices she remembered from her night on the waste ground – was gone. The waste ground! That’s where she had last seen Dina. It was the edge of town – maybe it was The End Place for all these spirits too. But when she jogged down to check, no ghostly voices or apparitions appeared there, not even when she reached out for the dark pulse she knew lingered here. It was still here, Katie could almost feel it sparking against her skin. Only, it felt as though it was pushing her and pressing against her, trying to force itself inside her and she knew that was wrong. It wasn’t the benevolent gift Dina had poured into her. This felt like something alien and familiar all at the same time. She ran from it.

  Chapter four