Nano 12

It felt just like the first time he woke up. Art kept his eyes shut and raised a hand to touch the side of his head. There was a major bruise there, protruding slightly. Whoever who had hit him would have hell to pay later.

‘He’s awake!’ someone whispered noisily. ‘Mr. Sept!’

‘Is he okay?’ a new voice said. Art thought it was a girl. It wasn’t the lady, but a girl.

‘Here, are you all right, boy?’ Mr. Sept’s dry hands touched the bruise and pushed Art’s eyelids open.

The boy blinked frantically for a few moments. Then he was pulled upright by Mr. Sept, who sat back and looked at him grimly.

‘Nasty hit,’ Mr. Sept said. ‘Can you see me?’

Art nodded, once, twice, and stopped. There was a headache developing, as expected.

‘I think I might have hit you,’ the girl said blandly. She shrugged as though she wasn’t to blame for it. ‘One minute we were running down a slope somewhere, the next minute, we were here and banging into trees. I wonder what happened.’

‘And the glams disappeared,’ the boy beside her spoke up. ‘That’s the weird part, I thought. They didn’t want to come here because of…her.’

‘Who’s her?’ Art winced and shut his mouth quickly.

‘The Dream Lady,’ the boy replied in hushed tones. ‘The glams said they didn’t want to meet her, but Mr. Sept reckons that she’s just left somewhere. He said that she was looking for me and Iris here, but then something brought us to her. And then the glams left.’

‘You mean the something that sucked all the light out everywhere and hit me?’ Art groaned and leaned against Mr. Sept’s shoulder.

‘Yeah, that,’ Iris said. ‘That’s what’s weird.’

‘And where is she? The lady?’ Art felt Mr. Sept’s shoulder tensed, but the man smiled.

‘I believe she is looking for the cause of the disturbance,’ he said. ‘But don’t worry, she’ll be back soon.’

‘But she’s evil!’ the boy said, shocked. ‘Why do you want her back?’

‘And who said she was evil, I’d like to know?’ Mr. Sept snapped. ‘Nobody said she was evil, boy!’

‘Er.’ The boy laughed nervously. ‘Well, you see, since the glams didn’t want to meet her, and she just left us – ‘

‘That doesn’t mean she’s evil, Jonas,’ the girl said bossily, rolling her eyes. ‘The glams are odd themselves; we don’t know much about them. And besides, they never delivered the message they were supposed to. And, and…’

‘Yes, young lady?’ Mr. Sept prompted.

‘I met a lady a few days ago,’ Iris continued, turning pink, ‘in my room. She told me that someone was coming to fetch me, take me away from the circus, I think. I thought it was the glam at first, but now that I think about it…it could have been the glam, or the two men, or that lady or some other person.’

‘What two men?’

‘They kidnapped us,’ Jonas spoke up. ‘One named Skinny and the other was Jamie. Not sure where they were taking us, but the Skinny guy was violent. The glams saved us, and they were about to take us back to the circus, and then we came here.’

‘Odder and odder,’ Mr. Sept mused.

‘Mr. Sept?’

‘Yes, Art?’

‘Where’s the fairy?’

There was an awkward silence, during which Mr. Sept stared at nothing thoughtfully, Iris coughed several times and Jonas looked stricken.

‘She’s dead,’ Mr. Sept said gently. ‘You fell on her when you were hit. Now Art,’ he added, grasping the boy’s shoulder, ‘it wasn’t your fault.’

‘I know it wasn’t,’ Art said, shrugging off the man’s hand angrily, ‘but I want to kill the person who hit me in the first place.’

‘We don’t know whether it was a person,’ Iris said.

Art glared at her. She glared back. ‘Shut up,’ he said.

‘Suit yourself.’ She got up and stormed away.

‘Where is she then, Mr. Sept?’

‘Over there, Art.’ Mr. Sept pointed to the clearing where the lady had been earlier. ‘I did whatever I could for her…all the fairy funeral rites and everything. If it’s any…I guess it was partly my fault for lighting the fuse. I brought the boy and girl over here without meaning to.’ Mr. Sept sighed heavily and stood up. ‘This is a mess, isn’t it?’

‘You know what,’ Art said gloomily, ‘I bloody hate this. And I blame you for it.’

‘Good.’ Mr. Sept walked away. Art heard the sound of someone striking matches and presently the smell of leaves and paper burning.

‘Are you okay?’ Jonas asked, concern making his fearful face all odd. ‘I can bring you some water if you like.’

‘Go away.’ Art lay back down and turned his back on the boy. ‘Eff off. Go somewhere. Don’t come back. Get killed or something!’

‘Er…okay.’ The boy shuffled off to join his friend.

‘Art,’ Mr. Sept said a while later, ‘wake up. We have to move.’

‘Why?’

‘Come on, don’t sulk. Here’s some food. Eat, and then we have to go. Iris seems to have got the idea that it was the glams who caused the darkness and everything.’

‘What?’ Art sat up, forgetting his anger in his amazement. ‘But why would they do that?’

‘To cause a distraction, since they were keen to avoid the lady.’ Mr. Sept handed him bread and some cheese. ‘Look, I’m not saying that the glams did it, but we don’t know for sure. The kids don’t trust the lady; we don’t trust the glams. Jonas said that half the time they weren’t sure of the glams’ plans and they only had some vague idea that the glams were leading them to someone for a task or something. It’s all fishy business, very hush-hush…which makes it all the more intriguing, I admit. But dangerous. Listen carefully, Art. Whoever did that darkness is capable of more than that, much more. I want you to promise me that if anyone were to offer you something else, something to lure you away, don’t accept it and don’t trust it. The fairy you met had her heart in the right place, but I can’t guarantee you that the others will.’

Art chewed on dry bread and cheese and said nothing. Mr. Sept shook his shoulder urgently.

‘Did you hear me, Art?’

‘I did,’ Art replied sullenly. ‘I understand. But do we have to take those two along?’

‘Yes, Art. We can’t leave them here. I don’t know what happened to the lady, but whatever she intends to do, I’d be glad if we got away from her quickly. She seems to be attracting trouble, haven’t you noticed?’

‘I don’t know.’ Art stuffed more bread into his mouth, more out of reluctance to follow Mr. Sept than because he was hungry.

‘Art. Come on, get up. Let’s go.’

The four people left the clearing and headed out of the woods half an hour later. Eyes watched them go, following the light of Mr. Sept’s lamp as the group made their way slowly through the trees.

‘The girl’s thinking,’ one voice said.

‘I know,’ said another.

‘She’s guessing too much,’ said a third.

‘Why did we save them then?’ said the first.

‘Their orders, remember?’ said the third.

‘Those men were acting on their orders too, and we hit them,’ the second said.

‘We had too,’ said the first gleefully. ‘They were in the way.’

‘Who’s going to tell them eh?’ said the second.

‘Last man standing,’ said the third matter-of-factly.

There was a soft swoosh as an owl drifted down to the bush and landed among the leaves.

‘So, any news?’

‘Yep, lady’s heading west by now and the group’s going east. I’m guessing that the old man intends to take the kids to Elyria. She, on the other hand, is off to speak to the Queen,’ a new voice replied.

There was a pause, during which the leaves of the bush shook slightly.

‘Are you sure about that?’ said the first voice.

‘Can’t be wrong, can I? The Queen doesn’t like her, it’s true, but you have to remember what she is…’ The voice dropped into a conspiratorial mumble.

And then a while more, someone said, as cheerfully as possible, ‘Well that’s good then. At least we know what to do next.’

‘The man will be the first, of course.’

‘Yes!’

There were a few rustles and cracks, and a short while later, several mice scurried out from under the bush and hurried into the darkness.