Ice Diaries (30 page)
Authors: Lexi Revellian
She put on her grown-up face. “I’m
not a real fairy, Tori, so I can’t give wishes. You’re
not wearing your knife.”
“No …” Morgan had
collected my knife, and I’m pretty sure he washed every trace
of blood off it too – I doubt Randall did. It was now at the
bottom of my backpack, my feelings about it being mixed. “I
decided if I do come across any potatoes, someone else will have to
peel them.”
I thought of something and dug out the
christening gift I’d chosen for Toby; the small gold medieval
chalice studded with semi-precious stones. I gave it to Claire and
everyone gasped and craned to look. “From Morgan and me.”
“Wow! Tori, you have such style.
It’s gorgeous. Thank you both.”
A little later Archie handed out
hymnbooks and Holy Baptism booklets. “We’re going to
start with a hymn,
For All the Saints
– a nice cheerful
tune, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Tori, your responses are here.”
Baptism services are rather long, and I
had to say I believed in a lot of things of which I’m not quite
certain. Archie (as godfather) answered his own questions (as priest)
with aplomb. Toby behaved very well, even after he woke up and began
to take an interest in what was happening. So did Morgan, in spite of
being non denominational and a bit scathing by nature. I liked the
part where Archie lit a candle for Toby and said, “You have
received the light of Christ; walk in this light all the days of your
life.”
Afterwards we had a buffet lunch
prepared by Nina. I caused another sensation by producing the two
loaves of bread I’d spent half of Ginger’s greenies on,
which led to me and Serena telling them all about Strata. Archie said
he’d visit them, and I could see Charlie was seriously
interested in moving there. When Mike’s name came up, Morgan
interrupted and broke the news about his death to save my doing it.
He didn’t mention Hong. Nina was clearly shocked and regarded
Morgan suspiciously, as if he was lying about Randall being the
perpetrator; but for once she said very little and I let it pass.
After lunch Morgan and I went to check
out the Polaris. It was still there with our trailer, some of our
things strewn around it just the way we’d last seen it. This
was a relief. We took it to Bézier where I had a nostalgic
look around my flat; it was strange to see everything much the same,
apart from the soot and cracked or missing glass. I wandered around,
looking at my things I’d left behind and wouldn’t be
taking. Morgan said we’d pack and leave the next morning. I had
a sudden pang. I wrapped my arms around him.
“Couldn’t we stay here for
a bit? We’ve got all my stores, we could move them to another
flat and make it really nice. Now we’ve got the sleds, we could
forage further afield.”
“Then what?”
I imagined waking one night, Morgan
asleep beside me, to the magical sound of rain; looking out of the
window the next morning to see the snow beginning to dissolve and
sink, the temperature rising until it was all gone like a bad dream.
I thought of the sun shining, the streets reappearing, the trees
emerging from their year beneath the snow and ice. They’d
almost certainly be dead, but their seeds wouldn’t; seeds are
designed to survive; they have a hard outer shell and low moisture
content and can live in icy conditions for years. Conkers, acorns,
winged sycamore seeds would sprout into life. Plants are indomitable,
and when the plants came back, so would the birds and insects. London
would be greener than before with hardly any people and cars; I
visualized the places I loved reborn with wild flowers, trailing ivy,
grass sprouting between paving stones …
“Maybe the climate will change
again.”
“And maybe it won’t.”
Morgan injected a dose of realism. “There’s nothing to
gain by waiting. The days are getting longer – in a month
they’ll be getting shorter again. D’you want to spend
another winter here in the dark? The food will run out in the end
even if it lasts ten or twenty years. Now’s the time, Tori,
while we’re young and fit. Wait, and one of us might get ill or
have an accident. The sleds might break and we’d die here.”
I remembered the last winter, a descent
into primeval night that had matched my grief. Then like a lamp in
the darkness, Christmas celebrated with Paul and Claire, who’d
tried to make it special for Gemma with presents and carols and a
Christmas tree; how she’d said it was her best Christmas ever.
Looking back, there had been many happy times. My heart wanted to
stay, my head knew the score. “You’re right,” I
said. “We have to go.”
“We’ll be okay, you’ll
see,” said Morgan, squeezing me.
I leaned back admiring his eyes. I
could have stared at him all day, but there was a subject I’d
been waiting for an auspicious moment to broach. “I was just
wondering … how many people you trusted.”
“I trust myself.” He
smiled. “And you. I trust you.”
“Is that it? Perhaps you should
branch out a little.”
Ice Diaries ~ Lexi Revellian
A week later …
The five sleds lined up outside Bézier
shone in the sun like children’s toys. Morgan had rigorously
supervised the contents of each sled’s trailer to make certain
everyone had packed essentials for the journey. Greg had been
surprisingly okay about parting from his Doctor Who collection, I
think because Rosie was allowed to come and we’d all had to
limit what we took. He brought the snow globe, to remind him of the
snow when we got to warmer climes. As well as Morgan and me, Paul,
Serena and Greg would each drive a sled, with Claire, Toby and Gemma
as passengers.
Archie stood alone and a little apart.
He had come to wish us well and bless us for the journey. “Go
forth into the world in peace; be of good courage …”
I realized, listening to his pleasant
earnest voice, that the ringing in my ears had totally gone. I broke
into a smile. He happened to look at me at that moment and smiled
back. Tears blurred my vision. I hated saying goodbye to him forever;
the thought of Archie managing on his own cooped up with Nina was a
depressing one. But she had refused to come south, saying it was a
hazardous journey and she’d prefer to wait for the helicopters;
and he wouldn’t leave without her. Most likely they’d end
up at Strata. They were thinking about it. Nina might enjoy the
greater scope for organizing other people, and it would be good for
Archie to have a bigger flock; good for Strata too having such a nice
man around. (Morgan said Archie and Nina not coming was for the best.
If a sled failed or crashed, we’d still have enough transport
for all of us.)
Charlie and Sam had already made the
move to Strata – to my surprise, the vetting committee hadn’t
been put off when Charlie told them her plans for an ambitious
literary crusade and insisted on reading them one of her poems. We’d
spent a day shifting their things, including a new copier from Argos
so she could start her micro-publishing venture.
The blessing over, Morgan inspected us
like an NCO unexpectedly in charge. I followed his eyes. Greg looked
happy and responsible and serious, Serena like a child on Christmas
morning who’s been given the present she hoped for but didn’t
think she’d get. Gemma wore a scarlet backpack with a selection
of her favourite toys, and Paul and Claire held hands. We all looked
rather cheerful.
Morgan’s eyes went from his
ragtag troop to me. “Things I do for you, Tori,” he
muttered. He smiled at me under his lashes and turned to the others.
“Let’s go south. Nice and
slow.”
We started our engines and headed for
the unknown.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
If you have enjoyed
Ice Diaries
,
you may like
Remix
and
Replica
, also by
Lexi Revellian.
REMIX:
Caz Tallis restores
rocking horses in her London workshop. When shabby but charismatic
Joe and his dog turn up on her roof terrace, she is reluctantly drawn
into investigating a rock star's murder from three years before - an
unsolved case the police have closed. Which, as her best friend James
says, is rather like poking a furnace with a short stick …
REPLICA:
Beth Chandler is
accidentally replicated in a flawed experiment at the government
research institute where she works. When the replica overhears plans
to liquidate her she goes on the run. With no official existence,
homeless, penniless and pursued by MI5, she has to learn how to
survive on icy London streets. Meanwhile the original Beth, unaware
of what has happened, becomes romantically involved with Nick
Cavanagh, the spec op she believes is there to protect her. In fact,
he’s hunting her double.
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