20 Years Later (16 page)

Erin picked at the grass, Titus watched her, and Zane worried the thread on his trouser hem. It was Erin who spoke first.

“I suppose you're wondering what all that was about …” Zane nodded. “They've never done anything like that before. Mum's really freaked out.”

She nodded sadly. “I'm sorry.”

“It's not your fault,” Zane replied, but Titus didn't show any support for his statement.

“I thought people never left gangs,” Titus said, scrutinising her face.

“I was never in their gang!” Erin fired back hotly. That threw Titus off track. Zane looked confused and she sighed. “If I tell you stuff, I might get into trouble.”

“We won't tell anyone,” Zane assured her. “Really, I'll spit and promise on it, just like the Bloomsbury Boys do, if you like.”

“I'll just promise,” Titus offered.

“Promises are rubbish,” she muttered bitterly. “Everyone who makes promises breaks them.”

“We're not everyone,” Titus and Zane replied in tandem which made Zane smile to himself.

Erin looked at them uncertainly and said shyly, “I think you are two of the nicest people I've ever met.” Zane beamed at that. She thought for a few moments and then took a deep breath. “Ok then, swear an oath that you won't tell anyone. Not even your mum, Zane. And definitely not my father.”

He nodded earnestly. “I swear I won't tell anyone about what you tell us.”

Titus did the same and they both waited expectantly while Erin fidgeted.

“My mum is with the Gardners, but she isn't one of them, she's just … there.” She shrugged. “I don't know why. She's a bit …”

“Weird?” Titus suggested her favourite word.

“Yeah.” Erin stared down at the grass she plucked fiercely. “She hardly speaks … she's all broken because of them I think. There are a few other women there too. Once one of them tried to run away but they caught her.” She shuddered. “I never saw her again, but I think I heard her crying once, a long while after.”

Titus and Zane glanced at each other, Zane in particular disturbed by what she said. After a few more blades of grass were added to the small pile by her foot, Erin continued.

“Mum made a deal with the brothers. I think that's what kept them away from me whilst I was growing up.”

“Brothers?” Titus asked.

“The Gardners are men, quite a few of them, but the ones in charge of them are three brothers: Jonathan, Harry, and Doug. It was Harry who threw the skull into the garden just now.” Her face took on a grim stare as she recalled him. “Harry's really nasty. He's the worst one because he can seem really nice, and then the next second you've got a knife in your belly. Jonathan's the eldest of them. He and Harry are more in control. Doug is really big and really stupid. He does whatever they tell him to. But they all listen to their mum, old Ma Gardner.
She's
really
horrible.” Erin glanced up and saw them gripped by her account, encouraging her. “She's big and fat.” She curved her arms out away from her body and blew her cheeks out for a second to illustrate. “She has this big stick to help her walk, but she hits hard with it too. And she's only got a tiny bit of hair on her head. And she is so old. Her skin is all wrinkly and baggy.” She shivered in disgust.

“I've never seen anyone like that,” Zane murmured. “She sounds like a monster from a story.”

“She is a monster. She has a really croaky voice, but you can still hear it from a whole street away.”

Zane tried hard to picture the hideous woman in his head. Titus remained silent, a small furrow between his eyebrows being the only clue to his deep thought.

“How can Luthor be your father if your mother is with the Gardners? And how did you end up with him now?” he questioned.

“He came and got me one night,” she replied. “Mum always wrote in this book. She hid it from them, especially from Harry … he would sometimes throw me out of the house and tell me to go away for a few hours.” She paused and frowned to herself. “She'd always be worse when I was allowed back. One day he found it and went crazy.” She trailed off as her bottom lip started to quiver. Zane reached out for her hand, but sensing her tension as he did so, he pulled back again. She set her jaw and looked up to the sky, eyes watery. “He said the deal was over, and he …” Her voice cracked.

Titus' frown deepened as he looked at her, and then a brief flash of grim understanding flickered over his face. “You don't have to say any more,” he said softly.

She swallowed hard. “Mum wrote a note that night and sneaked out. I followed her. She left it on the edge of the Red Lady's territory and then went home. The next day, when the Gardners went on a run to the Boys' square, Luthor turned up,
killed a couple of the ones that were outside our house, and broke in. Just like that, like it was easy. Mum said he was my dad and that I had to go with him. It was the most she'd said in months.” She bit her lip, trying so hard not to cry that Zane's eyes began to mist with tears for her. “And then I was with Luthor. I mean … Father … he prefers me to call him Father. He took me to where he lives … it was only a few days before we starting coming here.” She sighed. “So now you know.”

Nothing was spoken, only birdsong filled the garden. She looked at Zane and his tears threatening to fall. She rolled her eyes. “You're so soft, Zane,” she chided, but not harshly.

“I think it's sad,” Zane said, defensively, blinking rapidly. “Don't you cry when you're sad?” Both of his friends shook their heads.

“You shouldn't cry. It shows you're weak,” Erin stated firmly.

“Boys don't cry,” Titus said, “At least, not grown up ones. And girls who are tough, like Lyssa and Erin, don't either.”

Zane looked down at his trouser hem and tried to swallow away the lump in his throat. Titus also looked down at the grass, watching a ladybird struggle up one of the blades.

“She's not coming back, is she?” he asked as he watched the beetle open its hard outer wings and fly off. “Lyssa, I mean.”

Zane shook his head slowly, filled with sorrow for his friend. “Callum thinks bad people took her away. No-one said anything because they didn't want to upset you more when you were so badly hurt.” He couldn't bring himself to say, “The Unders.” Somehow he felt it would make it worse.

Titus pressed his lips together and nodded to himself slowly. “I'm going to go and lie down, I'm aching.” He stood carefully. “Thank you for telling us, Erin. And you don't need to worry–I won't tell anybody.”

Zane watched him walk away, wishing fervently that he could bring Lyssa back for him. But he knew he was just a boy, and boys can't do anything to people who make lightning. He looked at Erin. She was also watching Titus leave.

“He's tough,” she commented. “Wonder what he's all about.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked back at Zane. “You haven't noticed how he knows stuff when he really shouldn't be able to?”

“Huh?”

She rolled her eyes again. “Just now, when we were here, he knew there was a Gardner in the square, even though we couldn't see out of the garden at all.”

Zane thought about this and his eyes widened. “Yeah! And after we saw the Red Lady, he said some stuff that was like he knew her really well. He's really clever. And he reads, too. I wonder how he knows how to.”

“Maybe Lyssa taught him,” Erin suggested.

Zane agreed. “Can you read?”

Erin shook her head. “No-one ever showed me. Don't see the point really.”

“Reading's great, and it's really useful!” he smiled at her. “You'd be able to read street signs and place names, and books and all kinds of stuff. I'll teach you if you like.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you want in return?”

Zane's face was open and honest. “Nothing. I thought it might be nice for you.”

“You're so weird,” she replied, but then smiled. “Ok then.”

The following day Luthor returned to the square with a confident swagger and training resumed. Zane was convinced he was silently gloating but tried his best to ignore it. Titus and
Miri had a long talk, and that evening Titus announced that he was going to move into the house next door once he was better and could clean it out. Zane was thrilled at the prospect and Erin seemed pleased too. It felt good somehow when the three of them were together.

The days quickly settled back into their old routine of training in the morning and work in the afternoon. In snatched moments Zane taught Erin a new letter and sometimes when Luthor wasn't looking she would trace them out on the ground to demonstrate her progress.

Zane told them both about the Gardner he'd tried to save and what he saw when Titus was attacked, which fascinated Titus to the extent that he hardly said anything for the rest of the day he was so lost in thought.

Every night before blowing out the candle, Zane looked at the picture of his father and his namesake and thought over the idea he'd had after speaking to Miri about his father. He never asked his mother another question about him, even though at times he burnt to do so. He just couldn't find it in himself to make her feel so sad again.

Jay slowly recovered, Miri insisting he stayed so that he would rest and the wound would stay clean. Callum dropped by every couple of days to report on the Boys, often accompanied by a couple of them bearing some kind of offering for Jay or Miri. A few times Jay tried to speak to Titus, but got nothing but a baleful look in response.

Callum also brought a gift for Miri one evening: a new earthenware dish to replace the one that Jay had mentioned as being broken. Zane grinned when he saw him present it to his mother and loitered nearby as they spoke quietly to each other. When he left, Zane sidled up to her.

“Mum, do you like Callum?”

She nodded. “He's a nice man.”

“I think he is too,” he lingered. “I think he likes you too, Mum.”

She chuckled dismissively. “That's nice.”

“I think he'd like to spend more time with you.”

Miri put the dish away and turned to face him with a quizzical look. “What are you heading towards, Zane?”

He put his hands up, feigning innocence. “Nothing. I just think he's nice, that's all. And that he's kind to you. And I like that.”

Miri kissed him on the forehead and began to sort the day's harvest. “He is nice, like I said. I just wish he'd wash more often.”

Zane frowned and wondered off, another idea beginning to blossom.

One morning when Zane woke, Titus wasn't there and the window was unlocked. As he dressed hurriedly, he feared that Titus had gone for good until he returned with Luthor and Erin. Luthor looked particularly bad-tempered.

Zane pulled Titus to one side as Luthor went over to Miri, who was pruning a tree at the edge of the garden. “Did you have a dream?” he asked. Titus nodded and Zane's brown eyes broadcasted his disappointment.

“How was she?”

“Fine. She asked how you were.”

Zane's disappointment was usurped by joy. “She did?” Titus nodded patiently. “Why didn't you say you were going? I would've come with you!”

Titus shook his head.

“Sorry, Zane … I can't say why I didn't take you.” He paused and then added, “But I might be able to tonight.”

Before Zane could respond, he was interrupted by his mother. “What!” she exclaimed, staring open-mouthed at
Luthor. “She can't! You can't!”

“It's for your protection,” Luthor said, louder than her. “I'll choose one of the houses at the southeast corner. Besides, Erin will like it, I'm sure.”

“Jay won't,” she said, shaking her head.

“The Red Lady cares little for what he thinks,” Luthor growled. He glanced at Zane and then back at Miri, leaning towards her slightly. “She would be very offended if you rejected this generous offer of help.” He looked more pointedly at Zane and back to her again. “And if she couldn't ensure Titus and Zane's safety here, she'd have no choice but to invite them to live in our territory and leave more of us in the square to look after you and the garden.”

Zane tensed, appalled at how he bullied her, and went to storm towards him in a burst of reckless courage, but Titus held him back, shaking his head quickly. “No,” he whispered. “Not this fight, Zane. There's too much behind this–you'd make it worse.”

Zane watched his mother look at him, torn.

Luthor savoured her struggle. “I'm sure you'd agree that it's better that Erin and I stay and keep the Gardners out.”

She lowered her head and nodded, defeated. Luthor straightened, a triumphant sneer twisting his mouth as he turned away from her. Titus held on to Zane's shoulder tightly until he was out of sight and then let him rush to his mother.

“I'm sorry, Zane,” he whispered guiltily under his breath, knowing that the Red Lady was far too interested in them to leave their survival to chance.

Zane woke standing up, which confused him thoroughly. When he saw he was no longer in his bedroom, he rubbed his eyes fiercely, struggling to wake fully.

“It worked!” Titus cried and Zane opened his eyes again. He was in a room, not much bigger than his own bedroom but very different.

“What's going on?” he asked Titus in a bewildered voice.

“I brought you here!” Titus dashed over to him and shook his hand energetically. It was the most animated Zane had ever seen him. “You're really here! This is fantastic!” He even laughed out loud with delight as Zane watched him, bemused.

“Where is ‘here'?”

“It's a dream. I
knew
it! I knew it was a special place.”

“A dream? But … this doesn't feel like a dream. It feels too real.”