Unwrapped: A Fated Realms Novel - 1 Page 7

  'Stella, could you convince my parents to let me stay?'

  'Are they likely to refuse?'

  'They’ve been paranoid since Easter. May need more convincing than usual. Perhaps sweeten the deal by teaching me French.’

  'Okay, I’ll phone now.'

  I joined Taine outside. He was leafing through old photo albums. Taine paused now and then to stroke an image of his dead parents.

  Stella returned. ‘All arranged. Be up at seven tomorrow to train.’

  Chapter 9: Evasion

  Training before breakfast, we learned to push past hunger.

  Pierre said, ‘It mimics a real fight scenario where there may be little respite or food.’ He ran us through fitness drills, getting us to practice disarming each other with real and makeshift weapons.

  When I asked for combat training, I pictured an upscale gym with us slowing to let the grown-ups keep up. I underestimated what they had in store for us. Stella block-booked the dance studio in her apartment block for two hours each morning. She showed us how she kept her trim figure. We were the first to ask for a break.

  Pierre grilled me about the Venator’s attacks and chewed over my response. His eyes scanned me, weighing up my strengths and weaknesses.

  'Taine’s height and weight give him an advantage against a male attacker.'

  My short, slim frame reflected in the mirrors that lined the studio. Taine was a lot taller. My attackers would be too.

  'Your martial arts experience should help you disarm someone. Help you get away. Unlikely to do much more against an experienced opponent.’

  ‘What should I do instead?’ I worked hard to keep the whine out of my voice.

  Pierre narrowed his eyes. ‘Use your size to your advantage. Wriggle through gaps they can’t follow. Bend out of their way. Catch them by surprise.’

  I tilted my head. Not so bad then.

  ‘Find objects that will increase the power of your punch. Frying pans, logs, rocks, or anything you can throw at them. It may distract or stun them long enough for you to escape.’ Pierre suggested free weights to build up muscle. He took me over to a corner pyramid of dumbbells and showed me how to use them. ‘Start with these. When you are stronger, I’ll set you up with a bar bell.’

  ‘Write me a list.’

  Pierre nodded. ‘Also wrestle with Taine daily and practice wriggling out of danger. Your goal is not to kill, but to live to fight another day.’

  Vashtin’s last words echoed in my mind, run and hide. I didn’t want to freeze again like a coward. If they came for me, I would fight back.

  Stella yelled like an army drill sergeant. 'Get back up. Get on with it. Stamina as well as speed may save your life!'

  She would push us way past our normal breaking point as our feet squeaked against the laminate floor. We uncovered energy reserves we hadn’t known we possessed. After each workout we showered, our faces crimson with exertion and clothes sticky with sweat. Every part of our bodies ached.

  After breakfast, Stella taught us Cloaken magic in short thirty-minute bursts. ‘Anything more will steal too much of your energy.’

  The first lesson was meditation. We sat in a cross-legged yoga pose on the floor. The first few times I tried it I ended up giggling. Soon Taine joined in.

  Stella asked, ‘What’s so amusing?’

  ‘My thoughts rush through my head at one hundred miles per hour. When you tell me to still my mind, they jump up and down yelling, choose me, my turn, no, my turn.'

  ‘I’d forgotten. You need to build a mental dam across your thoughts.’

  ‘Yeah right,’ I scoffed, ‘How?’

  ‘Lie down, close your eyes. See yourself lifting a block of about five kilos of stone into place. Feel the weight pulling at your arms and the relief as you let go. Now go and haul another one at least ten paces. Release the weight as you drop it in position. Then repeat.’

  I pictured building a dam across a stream with water up to my knees. Each time I put a building block in place I felt calmer. I placed over a hundred blocks and became drowsy from the mental effort.

  ‘Did the Sandman get you?’ asked Stella an hour later.

  ‘Sorry.’ I stretched and rubbed my eyes.

  ‘I was the same. Tomorrow I’ll teach you step two.’

  Taine lay on a recliner, enjoying the sun on the roof terrace. I grabbed a bottle of ice-cold water from the fridge and joined him. This was the life. Stella followed me out.

  ‘How come my parents don’t visit you more often?’

  Something flickered across her face, too quick to catch.

  A sore point then.

  ‘Too busy with work.’ Stella lowered herself onto a recliner and stretched out, adding a sun hat and shades to protect her from the sun. She toyed with the straw in her drink.

  ‘There must be something else, I love it here.’

  ‘After the Venator wiped out the English Training School, we returned to France. I gave up my job, my friends, my life, everything. Your Dad never forgave me for leaving the UK so soon after you were born.’

  I hadn't known the assassination had taken place at a Training School. It explained why there were so few people left to train us. Unwilling to sink into maudlin thoughts I settled back to read my book and was soon absorbed in the story.

  The next day fell into a similar pattern. When it came time to meditate Stella took us to Luxembourg Gardens. We lost count of all the statues and fountains. They ranged from a giant head to a pile of fighting bodies. I took oodles of photos of the Medici Fountain with its galloping horses poised to spring out at me from the spray. Once I turned it into a sketch it would make a fantastic addition to my GCSE art portfolio.

  When it was time for lunch, we stretched out tartan picnic blankets on the grass. Stella rustled in her cool bag and pulled out tuna salad baguettes, apples and bottles of water. After we finished eating, Stella asked us to meditate.

  Taine and I stretched out on the blanket and closed our eyes.

  ‘Picture the dam you built yesterday... Make it higher... Feel the water pushing against it and calming until the top becomes smooth... Holding that image, stretch your senses… Taste the air… Smell it... Feel the breeze on your skin… Tune into the sounds of the children laughing and playing... The birds and chirping crickets… Picture the tiniest creature you can...’

  The heat of the sun warmed my face as twirls of sweet, jasmine air danced across it. Delicate white petals and yellow stamens flowered in my mind. An ant crawled along the green stem and waxy leaves. Tasting a fluid secreted by aphids… Later, Stella woke me again. She drilled me on what I had seen but seemed pleased with my progress.

  Each day we practiced meditation, I stretched out my senses further. Meditation became a delight once I was able to feel where others were in relation to me. It helped that we explored multiple parks across different days. We never went to the same place twice.

  A couple of times I thought I saw a man I recognised. Each time I blinked, he disappeared. I soon forgot him. We walked so much my feet became sore. My whole body ached but I didn't complain. Much. I took loads of photos and shared them on social media. We even came across the odd shimmering doorway. Stella suggested we ignore them for now.

  Back at the penthouse, she showed us other functions of the Étoile. 'By pushing on the green glass, you can switch the homing signal on and off.’ Stella demonstrated it for us. ‘If you press on the blue glass you can track another Étoile’s homing signal. Now you try.'

  We spent a few minutes testing out the different functions. Next day, we travelled by Metro and train to the gardens at the Château de Versailles. Stella waited for us on a terrace while Taine ran off and hid with his Étoile. My job was to search him out.

  Absorbed in taking photos, I forgot all about him. I was intrigued by one fountain in particular. A dragon with an open mouth at the centre. Cherubs with bows and arrows were ready to attack. Neptune lay with his trident, looking both ferocious and lazy all at once. Fed u
p with waiting, Taine used his Étoile to find me. He stole my phone off me and raced back to Stella, forcing me to follow.

  I found them at a table in an outdoor café area. ‘Perhaps we should use the Étoile to find the Venator.’

  Stella clutched her bag. ‘Too dangerous. Besides theirs would need to be switched on too.’

  ‘Less haphazard than what Alex and India are doing.’ Taine pulled out a chair and sat, stretching his legs wide. Man spreader.

  Stella frowned. ‘One day they’ll find the Venator and wish they hadn’t.’

  ‘We should let them decide for themselves.’ I sat and threw my Étoile up in the air and caught it again.

  ‘What else can it do?’

  Stella smiled at Taine. ‘You can use it like a sat nav to take you to key Cloaken locations. Tapping a code on the yellow glass.' She showed us how different codes worked to create a portal. Stella was careful to tap the table, so we didn't disappear off somewhere unplanned.

  ‘How come Vashtin didn’t take me straight there then?’

  ‘Normally you’d build up to it. It was perilous taking you as far as Green Park. A longer journey would have exhausted him-’

  ‘-He was grey after he took us but why?’ I rolled the Étoile around in my hand.

  ‘There’s a ball of energy inside each of us. He accessed it for combat and travel but it’s not infinite.’

  ‘Teach us that.’ Taine leant forward with excitement.

  She gave a short laugh. ‘It’s hard enough teaching you meditation. You need to master your thoughts before you are ready for anything else.’

  ‘A lifetime then.’ I tossed the Étoile back in the air.

  A stranger marched over and spoke in a posh English accent. ‘Excuse me, might I have a word?’

  I stiffened and hid my Étoile.

  He pulled up a chair without asking and sat with his back to the sun.

  Forced to squint at him, I felt exposed.

  ‘How can we help?’ Taine’s hands were on the table, far apart. Not hiding anything. Smooth.

  Inside I jittered like a hamster fresh out the pet shop. Taine was diplomatic. Stella disinterested. The only problem was they had no clue as to his identity, unlike me. Too late, I knew the source of the repeating face. The TV news report - after the failed rendezvous with Vashtin. Why had he come all the way to France? Surely if it was police business, he would have brought a colleague or the French. Was he wearing a wire?

  ‘I’m Detective Inspector Pierce and you are?’ He pinned me with his eyes.

  ‘On holiday.’

  Stella frowned at me.

  ‘Are you visiting the area too?’ Taine appeared to have caught up.

  ‘Not exactly no.’ The Inspector’s face was hard to read with the glare of the sun behind him.

  I put on my sunglasses. ‘Which is it, holiday or police business?’

  ‘May I ask what this is about Inspector?’ Stella pursed her lips. ‘You’re far from home.’

  ‘I am with the London Counter Terrorism branch. Leading an investigation into incidents at Hampstead Heath, Green Park and Bond Street earlier this year.’

  I was glad of the sunglasses as I struggled to keep my face from twitching. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it...

  ‘Ellie-Grace here matches the suspect’s description. Her parents reported her missing on the night of the first explosion.’ His voice was calm and firm as if he had no doubts.

  Busted.

  ‘Indeed,’ said Stella in a hard tone. ‘Flimsy evidence. A family argument is hardly a police matter. They made that clear at the time.’ She sounded positively regal, all polite and disdainful.

  ‘Challenging to identify someone from CCTV.’ Taine rubbed his nose.

  ‘Facial recognition cameras make it a lot easier, Taine. We have invested a lot of money in them. Especially at stations and Customs.’

  It was Taine’s turn to hide surprise. Impressive, only a slight tightening of his mouth. Easy enough to get his name. We had booked seats opposite each other and they checked our passports together. Now Taine’s home schooling made more sense. He had been right to stay below the radar and I had dragged him above it. Guilt tugged at my stomach making it spasm.

  ‘What’s your real question, Inspector?’ asked Stella.

  ‘Why would a girl with no record have her fingerprints spread across three crime scenes?’

  ‘Were comparison fingerprints obtained legally?’ Stella’s tone was clipped. ‘Is this a fishing expedition?’

  For the first time I could imagine her as the Operations Manager she had been before my uncle died.

  ‘Your approach doesn’t fit any crime programme I ever watched,’ said Taine.

  ‘Planning to go into law yourself are you son?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  Something startled a flock of birds behind Taine. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.

  ‘Gather your things. We’re leaving.’ Stella got to her feet and we followed suit, hoping her strategy worked. ‘Goodbye Detective. Investigate perpetrators not innocent young people.’

  ‘I’ll be in touch.’ He gave a mock salute and stalked off.

  Chapter 10: Forgotten

  It took us over an hour to get back to the penthouse on public transport. Time seemed to drag yet our shoulder blades itched, and we kept craning our necks, feeling unseen eyes watching us. We were unable to identify anyone specific. As we approached Stella’s street in old Marais, the crawling sensation worsened. Strangers flocked to her select neighbourhood, silently screaming, we’re watching you.

  My skin itched as if about to break into hives. ‘We need to go off grid and hide.’

  ‘Let’s get a shift on.’ Taine speeded up.

  We trotted after him.

  A work van perched on the street corner. It hadn’t been there when we left for Versailles. Workers fiddled with the phone lines, but we had received no card about any disruption. Were they bugging the phones? What about mobiles? Could they jam or hack the signal? We approached Stella’s apartment block.

  Stella pulled out her keys. ‘Pierre’s bringing a friend’s jeep. We’ll leave soon. Pack your things. Collect food to take with us.’

  ‘Where will we go?’ I asked as we bounded upstairs.

  ‘Pierre has a forgotten place. Outside the city. We’ll go there.’ She opened the apartment and stood back to let us enter. ‘It will be a phone free zone.’

  ‘Better than being tracked.’ I dashed in without bothering to remove my shoes.

  Taine rushed to his room and began packing. ‘Did that detective follow us for long?’

  ‘Could he be the guy who broke in?’ I tossed my backpack on my bed and began filling it.

  ‘Right height, build and hair colour so possibly. Hard to be sure. I only saw him briefly.’

  Exposed after thirteen years of hiding. Because of me. Or maybe not. Stella started this by giving me the Étoile. Taine was a Guardian before me too. This wasn’t all on me.

  Pierre arrived, letting himself in with a key. He and Stella went out to talk, in case the police had bugged the apartment. Taine made sandwiches. I pulled together supplies of drinks and snacks and the makings for breakfast. We then finished our own packing.

  Pierre returned and called us to the lounge. ‘Hand over your phones.’ He confiscated the batteries and sim cards, so we were not tempted to switch them on.

  ‘Write some postcards for your parents Ellie,’ said Stella. ‘I’ll get a friend to post them gradually, so they have the right postmark.’

  We had loads from our sightseeing tours. I scribbled on some and passed them to her.

  ‘Can you both put your bedding in black bin bags please? Not sure what Pierre has where we are going.’

  Taine rummaged through kitchen drawers and returned with a black bag for each of us. I hurried to my room and grabbed my bedding. Stella disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned with her own bag, we had our belongings bedding and food by the
door ready to leave. We exited the building to glaring sunshine.

  Pierre unlocked the doors to a tan coloured jeep parked illegally outside. Patches of orange rust were visible between the mud splatters. It wouldn’t pass any air quality tests. We were lucky he had been able to drive it to us with the new pollution controls.

  ‘The jeep belongs to a friend so the police will have a job to find it. No GPS so harder to track too.’ He threw our luggage in the back of the jeep.

  I winced thinking of my laptop.

  Stella got in the front.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Taine asked Pierre.

  We settled into the back seats. They were hard and uncomfortable. Built for rough country roads, not style.

  ‘It’s an abandoned Guardian training centre. I took it over when the French Guardians set up a new place.’

  Taine and I exchanged glances. There were other Guardians around the world. We had been unsure.

  ‘Shouldn’t be on any map either. It has a protection field around it. Seat belts on,’ said Stella.

  ‘Why can’t we train with the French?’ Taine pulled his seat belt and it slithered into place with a clunk.

  ‘We fell out with them years ago when we identified a spy. They didn’t take it seriously until a few of them turned up dead. Then they scattered.’

  ‘We’ve no interest in finding them or in being found.’ Pierre’s tone was harsh.

  Any suspension had died a painful death long before. We jolted over bumps and potholes. Jerking like flotsam as we shifted between start and stop. I was starting to see the benefits of the Metro. A river of cars surrounded us. Eddies formed and channelled us downstream. The current seemed to pull us along, twisting in slow moving areas or when caught in debris until we broke free.

  ‘Have our pursuers kept up?’ asked Taine.

  ‘We’ll ditch them when we cut across farms and forests. They’d need a helicopter to track us after that.’ Pierre turned down a rutted farm track and crossed a field.

  The jeep found each rut and depression, bouncing us back and forth. My head jerked repeatedly towards the side windows or metal supports. Gripping the seat with one hand and a hand strap with the other, I fought to keep from banging my head. I failed multiple times. Worse, I nearly threw up as my stomach heaved.