Jelly Cooper: Alien (19 page)

“And that’s when you saw us on the beach and put two and two together
.” 

A shadow passes over Thorn’s face.

“I wasn’t near the beach yesterday, Jelly.”

“Oh dear
.”  I cast a worried glance towards the others.

“What?  What do you mean, ‘oh dear’?” Agatha asks.

Oops.  It dawns on me that I haven’t told anyone about the figure on the cliff top.

“When we landed on the beach
,” I hastily explain, “I saw someone standing on top of the cliff, watching us.  I thought it was Fletcher, I mean Gregory.  I didn’t say anything.  I only caught a glimpse of the person, I blinked and he was gone.”

“You’re sure it was a ‘he’?”

The urgency in Thorn’s voice is unmistakable: he’s worried. I nod, glumly.  “I’m sure.”

“How much could he have seen?”

A look passes between the four of us.  Agatha twiddles the ends of her hair.  I lift my shoulder, but can't quite meet Thorn’s eye.

“Nothing much, just the four of us flying across the sea.”

“
Camille!
  You should not use your powers in public; don’t you know how dangerous that could be?”

What gives with
Javorian men?  They just can’t get enough of telling me off!

Thorn rakes his hand across his face and up into his tousled hair.  Abruptly, he rises and paces around the room.

“OK,” he mumbles under his breath.  “The thing is, not to panic.  That’s the thing.  It could have been anyone; a pensioner even with really bad eyesight out walking his dog in the blinding mid day sun.  Yes, that’s feasible.  We could be getting in a flap over nothing.  Nothing at all.”

That
doesn’t fill me with confidence.

“How come I could stop you so easily?  If you’re a descendent of
Javoria, how did I manage to stop you coming into the room at my second try?  And how come the Hunter hasn’t found you?”

“Yes,” says Humphrey, nodding and pointing at me.  “Good question. 
What about that, huh?”

“I’m not pureblood. 
The Hunter’s blinded by my father’s bloodline.  It’s also how you were able to stop me so easily.  I’ll never have the same ability as you, Camille.  My gifts are…diluted.”

He rubs his chin.

“That’s not what’s bothering me.  You haven’t practiced your skills for very long, have you?”

That obvious huh?

I shake my head, feeling like an idiot.

His smile is crooked
.  “Then we should have a training session at the soonest opportunity.”  He glances at his watch.

“I have to go. 
I have a lesson in ten minutes and none of us have had lunch.  We’ll meet tonight, at my place.  Here’s the address”.  He scribbles on a scrap of paper turfed out of his jacket pocket and hands it to me.  “Six thirty OK for everyone?  Good.  I’ll see you there.”

As everyone rises to leave, Thorn turned to me and says in a low voice for my ears only,

“We may not have much time now.  The Hunters are terrifyingly quick at seeking you out once you start to use your skills.  Be careful and watch your back.  We’ll figure something out tonight.”

He
leaves and I stare at his retreating back in a daze.

Humphrey grabs Agatha’s hand and tugs her to the door.  “
I need food.  Jelly, you coming?”

“In a minute, Humph.
  I’ll see you outside.”

The door closes.  I face Rhiannon, awkward in the screaming silence.

“Well,” I say, taking a leaf out of Agatha’s ‘how to deal with an awkward situation’ book and twiddling my hair.

“Yeah
,” says Rhiannon, fingering the material of her skirt.

I clear my throat.  “Um, thanks for
yesterday.  You were really cool, in the end”. 

Rhiannon brushes away my thanks.

“Don’t stress.  It’s not every day that I get to levitate, right?”

We lapse back into silence.
God I suck at this!

“So, anyway.
  My end of the bargain still stands.  I won’t mention a word about,…um,…you know, and neither will Agatha.” 

Rhiannon nods.

“Oh, yeah.  Cool.  And don’t worry, you’re secret is safe with me.  It’s not like anyone would believe me, right?”

I nod, once.

“That’s that, then.  You’re free of the freaks.  Phew.”

Rhiannon smiles wanly. 
“Yeah, phew.”

Half way out the door, I feel a hand on my arm.  I look up.

“Six thirty, right?”

I grin.

“Sure. You get the address?  Good.  I’ll see you there.”

Well, we’re hardly likely to go around arm in arm at school tomorrow. 
One step at a time, yeah?

Chapter Fifteen

“Hey, Jelly”.

Agatha and Humphrey push their way through the throng of people mooching around the yard, waiting for the school busses. 

“
So, what time shall we meet later to go to Thorn’s, or are we going to meet there?”

“Well, well.  Look at the
little fairy boy with his girlfriends.”

Humphrey’s
face freezes.  His turns to face Michael Marks.

“Leave it
Michael.”

Marks
sniggers, it’s an ugly sound, mirroring the ugly expression on his face.  He shoves Humphrey in the chest.  Humphrey stumbles and struggles to stay on his feet, but Marks steps forward and pushes him again, sending him crashing into a group of year seven kids.  A couple of them wind up on the floor and Humphrey, bright red in the face, scrambles to his feet and hurries to help them up.

My heart starts beating an irregular pattern.

Now I
know
that Michael doesn’t want to cause trouble today, of all days.  I’ve been putting up with this kind of rubbish for months and, what with the sleep depravation, the alien thing, and having to make friends with a cheerleader, it’s all getting a bit much.    

“He said LEAVE IT, moron.”

I step in between Humphrey and the leering giant.  I stare into Marks’ face and see the fury in his eyes.  He is, for a moment, unrecognizable.

He hates Humphrey.  He really, truly, hates him, for no reason at all.
  Jut because he exists.

I fight the temptation to spit in
Michael Marks’ face.  I know that spitting in his face is a very bad thing to want to do, and I know that I’ll hate myself for it, but I really have had enough of this bullying crap. 

“
Why don’t you and your big, fat, ugly face get lost?” I decide to start with some mild insults. “Up close, it’s kind of disgusting. In fact, you’re turning my stomach.  Yeuch!  I might sick-up my lunch right here on the pavement.”

Marks
roars and pulls back his hand. 

Right.
  That changes
everything
.

I step back just as a collective ‘
woooooooooo-ooooooooo’ ripples around the growing crowd.

Marks
looks round in confusion, hand stalled mid-air, as he takes in the fact that he’s got an audience.

That’s right, no-brain, hit a girl in front of all these people and try and get away with it.

“I should have known,” I say, loud enough for people to hear.  “You hit girls.  You like to fight with girls.  You’re a woman-beater.”

Marks
’ mouth hangs open.
 
Whispers and giggles from the crowd grow louder.  The tables turned for the first time in his life, he seems unsteady on his feet, like a prize fighter hit by a lucky punch.

He’s distracted and I grab the opportunity.  I have a wicked idea.

“And that’s rich anyway, coming from you, Marks:
look at the little fairy boy with his girlfriends,
” I mimic.  “So let me get this straight.  Humphrey hangs around with girls and he’s a ‘fairy’,” I make exaggerated speech marks in the air. “Whereas
you
hang around a load of boys in the changing room, in your underwear, and we’re supposed to believe what – that you’re some kind of stallion?”

I turn to Agatha.

“Maybe this explains his infatuation with Humphrey.”

Agatha nods.

“It would explain a
lot.
”

I fold my arms across my chest and click my tongue, delighted to see
Marks blush to the roots of his blonde hair. 

“What is it they say,
Michael?  People that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Marks
shakes his fists and roars. 

“What are you
talking
about?  Glass houses, stones?  He’s the fairy, not me!”

Yup, just as I
suspected: IQ of a cabbage.  

I decide to push it that little bit more.

“Although I suppose that if I were unfortunate enough to be going out with Trisha ‘I love shopping, tee hee’ Gibson, then I might be tempted to switch sides.  That girl does the female race no favours.”

Some of the girls in the crowd laugh, others whisper in groups: this is gossip fodder too good to miss.
  Todd looks like an over ripe tomato about to split its skin. He makes a strangled noise deep in his throat. 

A voice rings out from the crowd. 

“Michael, is there something you want to tell us?”

Marks
spins and shouts,

“Who said that?  WHO SAID THAT?  I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”

A hand touches my sleeve.  Turning, I find myself face-to-face with Humphrey. 

“Jelly, this is crazy.  You don’t have to defend me
,” he whispers, his eyes locked onto Michael’s hulk-like frame.  “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

I shrug off his hand.

“I know what I’m doing.”

Humphrey rolls his eyes to the heavens.

“Jelly…” 

His voice is firm, but I know Humphrey better than I know myself.  I can
see
the glint in his eye, the smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.  He’s enjoying this as much as I am; he just isn’t ready to admit it yet.  I laugh and wink at him. 

“Relax.  Trust me;
you’re going to come out of this a lot better than
he
is.”

I glance at
Marks as he scans the crowd and thunders “WHO SAID THAT?”  His neck is bulging way too much to be healthy.

The crowd shuffles and I look up to see
Trisha pushing her way through the throng, elbowing people out of the way in her haste to reach me and presumably scratch out my eyes.  Melissa is close behind, followed by a weary-looking Rhiannon.  I note with some amusement that for the first time in her life, Rhiannon is bringing up the rear.  Our eyes locked and I know what she’s about to do.

It’s the wrong thing.

She’s going to try and stop Trisha.  I shake my head.  Too dangerous, can’t risk arousing suspicion.  Yesterday we were at each other’s throat and today we’re on the same side?  Like that’s not going to get the grey matter working overtime.

‘
Don’t get involved,’
my eyes flash,
‘I’m OK..’

Rhiannon inclines her he
ad to show that she understands as Trisha screeches to a halt at the edge of the circle. 

I notice with a start that
Marks is staggering towards me, his mouth drawn back in a snarl. I focus and prepare to unleash
everything
at him.

“Hey
Michael, where are your changing room buddies?”

“Yeah
, do you want me to go and get them so they can hold your hand?”

Marks
falters.

High school can be
sooooo cruel.

The anonymous voices are music to my ears.  No way is
Marks going to recover from this.  There are some uncomfortable times ahead, for sure.  I think with glee, for the first time in my life, of football practice, rugby practice…any practice!  Oh, I could rub my hands together!

With a strangled cry,
Michael Marks launches himself at me. 

Oops, I’d forgotten about him.

Just in time, I step to the side and stick out my foot.  Marks trips, stumbles and lands on the floor with an almighty thud.  Crouching down beside him, I lock my eyes on his, lean forward and whisper,

“You think that this
afternoon has turned into your own personal nightmare?  That was nothing.”  I spell it out for him.  “Nothing.  Try that again and you’ll see exactly what I’m capable of.”

Marks
tries to get up, so I lock him down with invisible chains.  I tilt my head forward, my hair swinging in a curtain around my face and hiding my eyes.  I summon the fire.  Green irises form a perfect frame for the orange flames that leap and dance in the depths of my pupils.