The Vanished (10 page)

It was dark, and the breeze had turned cool. A beautiful voice drifted in and out of my mind. I had to squint to see that it was Ginge singing high and clear in a language I didn’t recognise, while a man strummed along with a guitar. Campfire flames licked at them. Black smoke rose into the dark.

Daniel traced the length of my thigh with his finger and set me on fire with his touch. I was glowing with light, or at least it seemed that way, casting the rest of the world into shadow. The air thickened with the heat from the fire and around us people danced, their bodies entwined. Daniel pulled me up from the grass and into his arms. He swayed me to the music with his hands on my hips, moving slowly to the sad, mournful song which Ginge sang with her head low and her hair fallen over her face. I didn’t understand the words but they were surely about heart-break. Nothing else could sound so sad. I pressed my head into Daniel’s neck and he sang along to the song in my ear, humming the sounds, copying the tune with a voice that surprised me with its tenderness. Every little worry and fear drifted away on the breeze or was sucked into the fire, never to raise its ugly head again, just so long as Daniel never stopped singing or dancing with me. I squeezed my eyes shut willing for time to freeze and the world to stop turning.

There was a smattering of applause from the spectators when Ginge finished her song. I jumped, pulled back to reality and reminded that there were more people to exist than me and Daniel. I looked around but everything seemed hazy. When did my vision turn into this blurry mess? I saw Kitty skipping around the fire, tossing her hair, dancing to silence. Ali had slumped on a hay bale with a bottle of something in his hand and glazed eyes staring into the night. Mary, Sergeant Kinsella and the rest of the Scavengers were playing cards on the trestle tables, which were now almost cleared of food. Dr Woods, Arthur Pittmore and General Lloyd were all walking in the direction of my father’s trailer. I wondered if he had invited them all for a drink or if the doctor had taken it upon himself to invite them himself. It could be a good chance for Hiro to find out more from them. I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things, I had Daniel, a glow from the punch, his hands on my hips. It was a time to enjoy myself. But then I saw something that stopped my heart beating for just a second. It was Angela staring at me through the flames, staring at us both. Her eyes brimmed with tears. I turned and reached out to her, but then her expression changed to something hard. She turned away and Cam joined her, leaving me to hope that his influence was a positive one.

“What is it?” Daniel asked. The light from the fire lit up his face, turning him into gold. His sea-blue eyes were soft.

“Angela, she looked upset,” I said.

“She’s made her choice,” he said in a low, sombre voice.

“For now, Daniel,” I said. “She might change her mind again. I don’t think we can abandon her. Not yet.”

The music started again and Daniel grinned at me. This time there was a beat and when Ginge’s voice began it was up-tempo and staccato in a punchy rhythm. Daniel let go of my hips and grabbed my wrist to spin me around. A giggle escaped my lips as the world span in a blur of faces and fire. I’d never felt so feminine before. He caught me at my waist, just before I was in danger of spinning out of control, and then lowered me backwards like I’d seen GEM dancers do in competitions on the screens back in Area 14. He lowered me so far I thought I was going to hit the ground, and then he kissed me on the lips.

Before I knew it I was pulled up and spun around again and again until I felt dizzy and sick. But it didn’t stop there. It turned out that the song had a communal dance where the women were passed from partner to partner in a dizzying amount of skipped circles before joining hands with their original partner, leaning back and spinning around as fast. After a full day of drinking and eating the people of the Compound were less worried about touching someone with special powers and grabbed me in the crook of my arm before aiming me towards the next partner. Then Daniel, smiling so wide that I thought his face might crack, grabbed both my hands, leaned against my weight and then spun us so fast that I squealed before breaking into a hysterical fit of laughter and then turning a bit green. Daniel didn’t notice, gripping my hands tight and spinning until he was red and flushed in the face. I tried to pull my hand away, now really afraid of being sick, but he was having far too much fun and spun me harder.

It wasn’t fun anymore. The world had turned. It was darker and more frightening that I thought possible, with faces that loomed through the shadows and a fire with terrifying flames that grew and grew until I thought they would consume me. The music was a desperate beat, hypnotising and cursed. We were going to dance to our deaths and I panicked. My heart drummed against my chest in irregular palpitations. Everything was wrong. I saw Angela’s face through the flames, and then I saw Sebastian through the flames, his fist raised and then the music stopped.

I fell to the floor when Daniel let me go. He turned to run towards Sebastian but was dizzy from the dancing and staggered from left to right, moving too slowly to help. I blinked over and over to clear my vision. What was I seeing? Had Sebastian really just lunged at Angela? Was he fighting Cam now? I shut my eyes and counted to five before I opened them. The fight had multiplied. Ali was dragging Cam away from Sebastian, who instead turned to fight a Compounder that I didn’t recognise. The guitarist lunged for Daniel and my heart surged into my mouth as I watched Daniel fight back. I had to get to him. I tried to drag myself to my feet but a wave of nausea floored me. Kitty ran over, dodging people in the chaos.

“Good job Mike isn’t here,” she said. “He’d be as green as you.”

She didn’t seem concerned by the fighting. She flopped down on the grass next to me, watching it all unfurl as though it was a boxing match. Daniel finally got away from the guitarist whilst Sebastian threw a punch at a short stocky man. I recognised him as the man who had confronted Sebastian in the market place a few days ago. Ginge tried to put a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder but, mistaking the action for something more hostile, Sebastian turned and punched her squarely in the eye. There was a collective gasp and Mary was running towards the scuffle with Sergeant Kinsella. Ginge jumped up to her feet, holding her bad eye whilst Sebastian, with a look of pure horror on his face, tried to touch her, in an apologetic way. The fighting had stopped at the same time, everyone’s eyes on Ginge. She stood very still in front of Sebastian for a few seconds as though trying to decide how to handle what had just happened. And then she pulled back her right arm as far as it could go before hitting Sebastian on the nose. He fell backwards, blood spurting out in a fountain. His nose was almost certainly broken. Mary was upon him in seconds.

“A night in the cells fer you, lad,” she said, dragging him onto his feet. “Ye dunnae start a brawl and hit a lass on my watch.” A pair of cuffs were pulled out of her pockets and clicked around his wrists.

“My nose,” Sebastian said. His voice trembled with the shock of the blow.

“We’ll clean ye up. We ain’t animals,” Mary replied.

Sebastian twisted his body around in between Mary and Sergeant Kinsella. “Ginge! Ginge, I’m so sorry! Please, it was an accident. I’d never…” his voice trailed off as Ginge turned and walked away from the furore.

“Come on,” said Sergeant Kinsella as she twisted Sebastian back to face the front. “A night in the tower will do you good.”

Daniel walked over to me and sat down. We watched them lead Sebastian off together.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“Just a couple of bruises.” He shrugged.

I examined his face, but there was little to worry about – a few scratches but nothing serious.

“Nice punches out there,” Kitty said with approval.

“Kitty!” I cried out. “Don’t encourage him.”

“Come on,” she replied. “We practice fighting all day. At least he’s got some proper combat experience.”

I looked at Daniel and wondered if Kitty had ever seen real combat whether she would be so keen on watching violence. It was true that I loved to train and learn how to defend myself, but I hated using that power on other people.

“Poor Ginge,” I said. If it had been Daniel who had hit me, even accidentally, I would probably have broken his nose too. I doubted that there could be anything worse than being hurt by the person you cared about the most. “Maybe I should go and talk to her.”

“Maybe you should keep your GEM on a leash.”

My blood ran cold. I turned towards the speaker. Angela.

“This is all your fault,” Kitty blurted out. “You stupid, spiteful little girl.” She tried to get to her feet, but I pulled her down. There had been enough fighting for one night.

Angela grimaced. “No. It’s their fault.” She pointed to us with one finger before turning and leaving me shivering in the darkness.

I’m not sure if I helped Daniel or if he helped me to his tent, but we both leaned on each other while walking through the Compound. For some reason the punch had turned my legs to jelly and I was having problems staying upright.

Kitty headed off to see Mike, who was still hiding away from the crowds of people. It was hard for him to spend time around people with emotions loosened by alcohol. By now all young children and their mothers were tucked up in bed. The sounds of drunken singing and cheering were more of a distant background noise than an oppressive wall of sound. There was a scent of stale beer and ash. I looked up to the stars, but they were hidden by a thick blanket of clouds and somewhere in the distance was the crack of thunder.

“I knew it,” I said as we approached Daniel’s tent.

“You knew what?” he said with a hint of amusement.

“That it was going to thunderstorm. I always feel like I’m going to get a nosebleed when it’s going to thunder.”

Daniel laughed. “The only one with a nosebleed tonight was Sebastian.”

“That’s not funny.”

“No, you’re right it isn’t.” Daniel unzipped the front of his tent. “Everything that happened today, with Angela and Sebastian and Ginge – it was awful. I guess I just wanted to make light of it. Then it might not feel so… real.”

I nodded. “I know what you mean.”

He looked at me with his lop-sided grin. “Want to come in for a cup of tea?” He spoke with a GEM inflection, imitating the bad story-lines on the soaps from the screens in Area 14.

I put my hand over my heart and part swooned. “Oh, why, I thought you’d never ask.”

Daniel took my free hand and led me through the flaps of the tent into his new home. It was cramped but smelled like Daniel, and that was good enough for me. We lay down, with our heads touching, and watched as the first splatters of rain drummed against the tent fabric.

“That was good timing,” I said. I snuggled into the soft sleeping bag, finally away from all the drama, and glad of it. This was a safe place with someone I could trust my life with.

“Mmm-hmm,” Daniel murmured. He paused and then said, “Do you think Sebastian will be all right in the jail?”

“I guess so. Mary took him, and she’s a fair woman. She’ll make sure that he’s treated okay.”

The rain drummed harder against the tent and in the distance more thunder cracked through the sky, louder this time, like the rumble of a huge drum. Outside the tent I heard a few shrieks as people dashed around, trying to get out of the downpour. Shadows leapt across the fabric, made visible from the glow of Daniel’s torch.

“Do you think it was Angela who tried to hurt you in the tree?” Daniel said.

I tensed just thinking about that moment. The panic as the rope wrapped around my wrist. I swallowed, trying to remove the thoughts from my mind. “She wouldn’t. Would she?”

“I don’t know her anymore,” Daniel said. His voice was quiet, almost defeated. “I’ve known her since she was young enough to be tickled. I’ve known her jump up and down in excitement about spaghetti on toast.” He sighed. “I’ve known her almost all her life and yet in these last few weeks she’s become a stranger.” He said the word as though it felt strange in his mouth. “A
stranger
. Can you believe that? Is it possible?”

I took his hand and squeezed. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s still in there somewhere. Maybe we just have to find a way to get her back.”

Daniel wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into his chest. His heart hammered against my cheek. His body was scorching hot, and my fingers tingled with anticipation as the rain created a barrier around us, a little bubble that blocked out the rest of the world. It was now so heavy that we heard nothing else, just rain and our heart-beats. Daniel moved my hair away from my face and leaned down towards me. I moved towards him and our mouths found each other – hungrily.

As we kissed I thought about our dancing, the way our bodies moved together in time to the music. Heat travelled through me like a pulse. It throbbed with the beat of my heart and my legs stiffened. Daniel’s hands moved across my body, pressing me into him so hard that, for a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Above us the rain was as relentless as Daniel’s touch. His lips were rough against mine and as the thunder rumbled through the sky his body moved on top of mine, moving me onto my back. Even with my eyes closed I saw the lightening, my eye-lids flashing orange from the bright lights. It was a wake-up call and I knew that I had to get out. This was too much too fast. I didn’t want things to happen like this. I pushed against Daniel’s chest, but he didn’t budge.

“Daniel,” I whispered. “That’s enough.”

He ignored me, his hands travelling up my side. I pushed harder against him, but he was too heavy to budge. My heart quickened in panic.

“Daniel,” I said more loudly.

He murmured but didn’t stop, kissing my neck with little caresses; as delicate as a butterfly’s wings. I flinched away from him and punched him in the chest.

“Oww,” he said, pulling away, his face confused and hurt.

By now I had tears pricking at my eyes, and there was the usual heat in my cheeks that meant that I was blushing. I pushed past Daniel and clambered out of the tent.

“What’s wrong?” he called after me.

I unzipped the tent with trembling hands and staggered out into the rain. It fell in relentless sheets, soaking me to the skin within seconds. Daniel climbed out of the tent, calling after me. I began to run but he never gave up, catching me and spinning me around.

“What’s wrong?” he had to shout to be heard over the rain. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

“Not yet. I didn’t want it yet.” I shook my head firmly.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You should have said something.”

I hit him on the shoulder. “You should have
asked
.”

His expression changed to one of pure horror. “You’re right. What was I thinking? I’m so sorry, Mina.” He kicked the ground in frustration. “I’m a total, bloody idiot. Can you forgive me?”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, contemplating his apology. My hair was stuck to my forehead and the rain streamed down my face in wide rivulets. My feet sank into the grass.

“Just don’t ever make me feel like that again,” I said. I couldn’t work out if there were tears falling down my face or if it was just the rain. More lightening split through the sky in a spear of light.

Daniel hugged me. “I promise.”

He pulled back for a moment and I saw that his eyes were almost as dark and brooding as the sky. I buried my head into his chest and he held me tight. His body convulsed. I thought he was shivering from the rain until he fell limply against me.

“Daniel?” I struggled to keep him upright and had to wrap my arms around him as he began to sink towards the ground. “Daniel?”

His face slackened as he lost consciousness, and his wet, slippery body fell through my fingers. I tried to hook my arms under his but he was too heavy and he fell towards the floor, almost pulling me down with him into the mud.

“Daniel? What’s happening? Are you having a vision?” I cried.

No answer.

I tried to shout out for help but the rain was still falling so hard that no one would hear me no matter how loud I shouted. It was too far to the tent, I had to try to get Daniel back to my trailer.

I leaned forward and grabbed him under the arms, slipping my hands around his chest and joining them so that I could drag him. His limp body was the heaviest object I’d ever tried to lift and it was no good. I managed to pull him a few feet before collapsing onto the ground with him on top of me. Our clothes were covered in slimy mud, sticking to our bodies. I tried to move my hair out of my eyes and smeared more of it onto my face. Above me the thunder rumbled through the night sky. I had to use my gift. I felt weak from the alcohol and it would take up all my energy, but I had no choice.

Leaving Daniel in the mud I climbed to my feet and closed my eyes. It didn’t take long for the familiar heat to tingle in my fingertips, I had a lot to be angry about after this evening, I just had to focus my energy, which was hard when still tipsy from too much punch. I calmed my breathing and with each deep breath I imagined Daniel being lifted from the ground. The Compound was mapped out in my mind, and I pictured Daniel hovering a few feet above the mud, negotiating the twists and turns to the caravan. The picture kept slipping and I had to open my eyes more than once to make sure I hadn’t dropped him. Whilst Daniel travelled bit by bit the energy drained from my body, but I forced him along, getting him as close to the trailer as possible. Then I just had to find the energy to follow him, when all my body wanted to do was collapse into the mud. My legs were like jelly and I forced myself on. To this day I don’t know how I lifted him into the trailer, but I do know that as soon as we both hit the dry floor I lost consciousness, collapsed in a heap by him, finally letting myself go when I knew he was safe.