Ravensborough (6 page)

The next week was easier than the one that had just gone by. I was losing my new girl status, and hung around with Cat and her friends. I was beginning to get on better with Mei than I did with Cat herself, though – we were more on the same wavelength.

I had sent a few text messages to Aradia, and we arranged to meet on Friday evening after school. I may have been feeling more at home here, but I still didn’t know my way around Ravensborough very well, so I asked her if she knew the Willow-Tree cafe where I’d been on Saturday. She said she did.

I kept the meeting a secret from everyone. I knew Rupert would hit the roof if he knew that I was meeting up with Aradia on my own. If he wasn’t comfortable with us talking in his own house, there was no way he’d be ok with us meeting up alone in the city. Because of that, even though I didn’t like doing it, I had to lie to Mum and say that I was going to Mei’s. I didn’t tell anyone in school, because I didn’t want any hassle. Ben, after being told the whole story by Cat, kept referring to me as a witch-lover. I couldn’t see what the big deal was. None of the Rationalists actually
believed
that magic actually existed. They saw Pagans as members of a faintly ridiculous cult, albeit one that made the whole country a laughing stock to the rest of the world. Most Pagans weren’t harming anyone, so what was the problem?

School on Friday seemed to take forever to go by. It didn’t help that some sadist had decided that a double class of maths was the ideal way to finish of a Friday afternoon. We were ploughing through the delights of trigonometry, something that I’d already covered at home, making it especially monotonous. ‘One of the aims of trigonometry,’ our maths teacher Mr. Schaffer told us, ‘is to find the length of one side of a triangle through logic, by utilising the known values of the other two sides.’ I refrained from pointing out that a truly ‘logical’ approach would just involve using a ruler.

Ben and I were in the same class. I looked sideways at him while Mr. Schaffer moved on to angles. Was he really oblivious to the fact that Cat had a major crush on him? Or did he just not care? It was hard to know with him.

After class we walked out the front gate. Mei, Will and Cat were waiting for us. When I didn’t turn to walk home via my usual route, Cat asked as to where I was going.

‘I’m just heading into the city to have a look around. I need some new clothes. I do not have enough jumpers for this weather.’

‘Ah. . . yes. Coming from the sun drenched island of Ireland, you’re not able for the cold’, teased Ben.

‘It may rain a lot, but Ireland has a cool
temperate
climate,’ I emphasised, my breath freezing in a cloud in front of my face. ‘And Ireland is further south. Anyway, I wasn’t complaining. I’m just being practical.’

‘You should have told me you were going clothes shopping’, Cat pouted. ‘I would have come with you. Instead you left me with no excuse to not help my Mum clean the
entire
house. It’s slave labour. Just because my dad’s parents are visiting from Spain. She doesn’t even
like
my dad’s parents. My weekend is going to be terrible.’

Mei put her head on one side. ‘Cat you are a total drama queen. You should be an actress.’

Will started to laugh, ‘They don’t employ actresses who overact’. Ben chuckled.

‘You guys are sooo mean,’ she complained. If you just met
Abuela
and
Abuelo
you would understand. They are a complete nightmare.’

‘Well, Cat,’ Ben drawled, ‘I guess you take after your father’s side of the family.’

‘With friends like this, who needs enemies?’ Cat grumbled. ‘Scarlett, enjoy your shopping trip. And call me over the weekend, ok? I’ll need some distraction.’

‘Bye guys’, I said as they started to head off.

‘See ya Scarlett’.

‘Bye.’

I was relieved when they walked away. We had a light homework load for the weekend, and I had been afraid that one of them would volunteer to come with me.

I enjoyed the bus journey into the city. Without anyone to distract me, I could take in the scenery. Ravensborough was quite beautiful in a wild, rugged way. The area around the lake was particularly lovely. As the bus crossed the bridge the sun sank further and further below the horizon, turning the sky blue, yellow and purple. Then it finally dropped out of view, spilling cool shadows on the surrounding landscape.

It took me longer than I’d planned to get to the Willow-Tree. I knew roughly where it was, but I still managed to get lost, and was ten minutes late when I finally walked through the door. The inside of the café was hot and welcoming after the iciness of outside. The noise of the milk steamers and the smell of ground coffee beans made me feel I could be back home, it reminded me of a coffee shop on my old street. Then I remembered why I was there. I looked around and spotted Aradia sitting at a table near the back of the cafe.

I walked over. Her inky hair was worn loose and messy. She was reading a book, I squinted at it but it wasn’t a title I recognised. She, like me, was still in her uniform from school. Hers was miles nicer than mine though, a dark navy blue that was the exact colour of the night-time sky.

‘Hi!’ I said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Aradia looked up and smiled. She closed her book, marking her page with a bus ticket. Her eyes were the same green as they had been last week in Rupert’s dining room. Maybe I had imagined the whole eye thing.

‘Hey, how are you?’ she asked, smiling. Her face was as pale as milk, small and neat. Her uniform was messy, though: probably a tendency that she had inherited from her dad.

The crest on her school jumper was beautiful. It was an owl in full flight against the background of a silver thread moon. Above the image was written the name of her school, Ravensborough Minervan Academy for Girls. Underneath was a motto, small and stitched in Latin.

‘What’s the motto of your school’, I asked as I shrugged out of my coat and scarf.

Aradia smiled. ‘
Condemnant quod non intellegunt
.’ It’s Latin for ‘they condemn because they do not understand.’’

‘Who doesn’t understand?’

Aradia sighed. ‘People like my uncle. What are you going to order?’

A waitress had come over to our table. We both asked for hot chocolate.

‘I’m really sorry about the other day,’ I said awkwardly. ‘I was really embarrassed when Rupert started coming out with all that rubbish.’

Aradia shook her head. ‘Don’t be. It has nothing to do with you. He’s
always
been like that. He treats me and Mum like we’re the personification of evil. We don’t see him very often, thank God. Dad goes to see him on his own, mostly.’

‘Why does your Dad go to see Rupert at all if he treats you and your Mum like that?’

‘Because Dad feels bad that his parents died when there was bad feeling between them. I was their only grandchild, but they never laid eyes on me. Rupert infuriates Dad, but they’re the only relations that they both have. And he doesn’t want more bad feeling. Well,’ she laughed drily, ‘at least not from his side.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m guessing you didn’t tell Rupert or your Mum that you were meeting me here?’

I shook my head.

‘No, that’s what I thought. I didn’t tell my parents either. They wouldn’t have any problem with me seeing you, but they know that you'd have to go behind your Mum’s back, and could have given us hassle from that angle.’

Our hot chocolate arrived. I took a sip. It burnt my tongue, but the heat spreading out in my mouth was heavenly.

‘Aradia? Can I ask you a question?’

She looked up warily. ‘You can ask, but I might not answer.’ She looked guarded for the first time since I’d met her.

‘The other day, when Rupert was acting like a prize idiot, I thought that your eyes changed colour.’

‘Oh! Is that all?!’ Aradia’s face lit up in a grin, ‘yes my eyes change colour.’

‘How is that even possible?’

‘Well, Paganism is really another way of viewing the world around you.
Rationalists
, she said the word with heavy irony, ‘see the world through one filter. Children with magic in their blood, their eyes change colour with their emotions. It influences how they see, changes the frequency slightly. When kids hit puberty their eyes come under their own control. If they want to see through a different filter they have to control the colour change themselves. ’

‘So you changed your eye colour on purpose, to see differently.’

‘No I didn’t. My eyes changed because I was angry.’

‘But you’re what, sixteen? How come you haven’t outgrown that?’

‘Because I’m not fully a Pagan child. I got magic from my Mum, but not from Dad. I have most of the powers of a magic child, but I have to work harder to hone them. Hence the heavy duty school. The Ravensborough Minervan Academy costs a lot of money. Rationalists hate it because it produces most of the intelligent opposition to them and their dominance. Mum and Dad sent me there because, if I’m going to control my powers at all, I’ll need a lot of help.’

I was incredulous. ‘But if the eyes of Pagan children change colour, how do the Rationalists explain that? I mean, how can they deny that you’re all slightly different from them.’

Aradia laughed. ‘They say it’s illusion. Contact lenses even. Anything that stops them from admitting that there might be something more beyond their concrete world, where everything has a price.’

‘But, do you actually believe that you have magic powers, and that fairies,’ I pointed to the delicate iron bracelets on her wrists, ‘actually exist?’

‘Do you?’

I shook my head so vehemently that a piece of my dark red hair went into my chocolate. ‘No I don’t. I think that Rupert was wrong to be so rude to you, but I can’t believe magic exists.’

Aradia leaned back in her chair and gave me an appraising look. ‘Then why did my eyes change colour?’

‘I don’t know. It’s not something I can explain.’

Aradia stood up and put on her coat. Oh no,’ I thought. Now I’d offended her.

‘I’m really sorry if I offended you’, I said quickly, ‘I didn’t mean to.’

‘None taken. I’ve got to go and help Mum in the apothecary. It’s late night opening. But clear your schedule for tomorrow, I’m going to show you a side of Avalonia that Rupert would never show you.’

‘Where are you taking me?’

‘If I tell you I’ll ruin the surprise.’

I wanted to know where I was going. ‘But what will I tell Mum and Rupert?’

She grinned and tucked her book in her bag. She threw some coins on the table. ‘You’ll think of something, you rationalists always do. Meet you here at ten tomorrow.’

‘I’m not a...’

But she was gone.

Part of me was indignant at Aradia’s assumption that I would drop everything in favour of spending the day with her without knowing what exactly we would be doing. But despite my irritation, I wanted to meet up with her again. Most of the people I knew here would think I was crazy, but I couldn’t help it. I was curious.

The bus on the way home from meeting Aradia stopped at the start of the Starling-Bird Bridge. Two soldiers got on and slowly worked their way from the front to the back of the vehicle, checking everyone’s documentation. I handed over my passport with the Irish harp on the front of it, and was subjected to heavy questioning about why I was in Avalonia. Rupert kept telling me that I needed to get sorted out with an Avalonian identification card soon. Maybe he had a point.

When I got home I found that I was in luck. Mum and Rupert were going to a friend of his for lunch the next day. They said that I was free to join them, but I could tell from their expressions that it was more of an adult thing. I pleaded homework, and casually said that some of my friends were planning to get together tomorrow so I might tag along. This was well received. Mum was so happy that I was beginning to carve out a life for myself in our new hometown that she making friends trumped studying. She urged me to get out of the house and have some fun, which was exactly what I planned to do.

I didn’t feel good about lying to Mum, and I’d never really had to deceive her before. But although she was working in Avalonia, and was steadily amassing a group of friends in her own right, whenever she was unsure about something in this new environment she looked to Rupert as her compass. He would advise her against a friendship between me and Aradia, so I had no choice but to keep them both in the dark.

It was hard to know what to wear, considering that I had no idea what we’d be doing. I decided to go for outdoor casual, jeans, flat boots and a rich purple jumper that complimented the colour of my hair perfectly.

Again I made the journey across the lake to the main city. When I got to the Willow-Tree, Aradia was waiting for me, leaning against the wall outside it. Her jacket was coal black and reached to her knees. The legs below the coat were encased in denim, so I guessed I’d gotten the mood of the day right. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, emphasising the sharp contours of her cheekbones and chin. She saw me and waved at me enthusiastically.

‘So where are we going today?’ I asked, shoving my hands deep in my pockets.

‘This’, Aradia gestured around her, ‘Is neutral territory. You live in a Rationalist area, so I’m going to give you some balance and broaden your perspective.’

Realisation dawned. ‘You’re taking me to the Pagan quarter.’

‘Initially, yes,’ she said. ‘Think of this as an educational field trip.’

‘And here was me thinking you just enjoyed my company.’

‘Of course I do!’ Aradia rolled her eyes. ‘If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here trying to make you understand.’

I wanted to ask about Gethan and how she knew him, but couldn’t think of a way to drop it casually into conversation.

We began to walk uphill. My journeys into the city had tended to focus on the arty student area immediately surrounding the Willow Tree and the uber wealthy area around Guinevere Plaza. When I came with Mum and Rupert we went to King’s Quarter, a fashionable area where Ravensborough’s richest citizens came to shop. This was uncharted territory for me.