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  She crossed her fingers and made her way through the living room and into the steamy kitchen. Lou stood at the cooker, but there was no sign of her father. His place at the table wasn’t set. There wasn’t even a plate out for Lou. Only Evie’s seat had a cup of pure orange and a gleaming empty plate waiting.

  Lou looked over her shoulder and nodded once towards the table, indicating that her stepdaughter should sit down.

  Evie slid into her chair. “Where’s dad?” she asked, trying to open a venue of conversation.

  “Where do you think?” Lou shovelled bacon onto her plate rather violently.

  Evie understood that the question was rhetorical and reached out for the saltcellar, sprinkling it liberally over the sizzling meat. Her mouth was watering. She never functioned properly until she’d eaten something in the morning. It was probably the only reason Louise was making her breakfast. When watered and fed, she’d be awake enough for interrogation.

  The toast popped up from the toaster making Evie jump. Lou buttered it quickly, looking dangerous with the knife, and threw it on the plate beside the bacon. She switched the cooker off and swept out of the room. Evie heard her stomp up the stairs and wondered briefly if she would come back down with an interrogation droid. The one Darth Vader used against his own daughter in Star Wars.

  Evie didn’t think even it could convince her to admit to the ‘truth’. There wasn’t any truth, only nonsense.

  She placed the bacon between the toast and bit into it. At least she could eat in peace while Lou was out of the room. She had to start thinking quick. There had to be a good story to tell, waiting on the tip of her tongue for the moment when Lou started on her.

  The moment suddenly arrived. Lou came back in silently, and surprised her.

  “Okay, then. Spill the beans Evie.” She dragged her chair back and sat down heavily.

  Evie’s mouth was full, and she chewed as slowly as she could. Beans…spill the beans.

  I met a boy in an alleyway. He was hot. Then I left him, and the alley disappeared.

  Nope.

  I sneaked away to meet a pervert and offered to pose naked for his underground magazine.

  I’m not that hot.

  I…

  She swallowed her mouthful. “I went into a shop nearby, while you were taking the mirror out. It was off another side street. While I was there, some robbers came in and beat up the owner. He was a young guy, and when they left he wouldn’t let me call the police. I stayed with him for a while. I seriously didn’t realise the time. And you can check my phone, it’s busted.”

  It was mostly what had happened. She could see Lou sizing it up. She raised an eyebrow. “Evie, that was incredibly dangerous.”

  “Yeah, I know. But valiant of me, right?” She smiled hopefully, but Lou didn’t soften.

  “More stupid than valiant. Why the hell didn’t he want you to call the police? It doesn’t make any sense. You were in the middle of a robbery. Did they have guns?”

  Evie shook her head. “No, I think he knew them. I was hiding the whole time. He was out back when I came in. I waited until the gang left to come out. I think he had a concussion. He wouldn’t let me call an ambulance either, must be involved in some bad shit.”

  She took another bite of her bacon sandwich while Lou processed the information. Evie watched her closely, chewing all the while, trying to look like she was absolutely sincere and not hiding anything.

  “You sure that’s all that happened?”

  Evie nodded, washing down the last of the sandwich with a gulp of pure orange. The taste was bitter on her tongue. “Well, it’s dramatic, right? Could you see my father ever allowing me out again if he thought I was in the middle of a robbery? We’d be leaving Camden as soon as he could get some time off his precious work to arrange everything.”

  Lou sighed. “Well, maybe it would be the right thing to do, Evie.”

  “I like it here.” She drained the last of the juice and took her dishes to the sink. “Besides, I didn’t get hurt did I?”

  Lou stood up and lifted a blue chequered tea towel from the sideboard. “No, you didn’t. But you still gave me the scare of my life.”

  “I’m sorry Lou. I really, really am.” She was sure Lou would know she was sincere. The fine cuts on her hands smarted as she plunged them into the sink. She ran warm water over her plate, and added some fairy liquid, before broaching a sensitive topic. “Was Dad any calmer when he left this morning?”

  Lou almost dropped the soapy plate that Evie passed to her. “Actually, he left as soon as we got home last night. He got a taxi.” She kept her eyes fixed on the dish, drying it thoroughly.

  Evie frowned, plunging her dirty glass into the water. “It was almost midnight, if he had work to do he could have just finished it at home.”

  Lou shrugged, still not looking at Evie. Maybe they were both starting to keep secrets from each other.

  * * *

  Evie’s room was littered with fallen angels. Her first attempt had mangled wings, which were now smudged and torn where she had attacked them with a rubber too many times. The very latest angel had been born sporting a single, shapely woman’s breast on his otherwise very manly chest. She now sat on her bed staring at a new blank page in her sketchbook.

  She was going to fail A Level Art. That much was clear to her. Her hopes of becoming a manga artist were slipping further out of her grasp. Unless she was planning to illustrate the story of Lucifer’s trials during a very long and drawn out sex change. Maybe she’d get extra points for a hip and controversial topic.

  She flung the sketchpad off the bed and lay back against the headboard. She was almost afraid to give up. If she sat still for too long she started to think about Clandestine. The boy remained hazy in her memories. He was a dark blur standing in the centre of a shop that she remembered with sharp edged clarity. If she closed her eyes she could almost reach out and cut herself on the shards of glass glittering on the dark wood floor. She could taste the fear of being cramped in the space beside the stairway, listening to faceless voices arguing.

  She wanted very much to remember the boy as well. But only his words stood out, and the fact that his hair had been long and unusual. She would draw him if he’d only come into focus, but his face remained elusive, taunting her coldly from the outskirts of reality.

  His voice telling her not to come back was the most real thing of all, and that seemed to cut more like the blade of a sword than a little sliver of glass.

  * * *

  She woke to the high-pitched drill of the home telephone. Her head was bent at an uncomfortable angle against the headboard of her bed. She sat up slowly and stretched her neck, rolling her head gently. The phone continued to yell. She stumbled to her desk and lifted the R2-D2 shaped receiver.

  “Hello?” Her voice was groggy, feeling rough in her throat.

  “Evie? That you?” Trix chirped from the other end, sounding far too cheerful.

  Evie answered with an affirmative grunt, dragging the seat out from behind her desk and slumping into it.

  “You sound like shit.”

  “Thanks. I knew I was right to sign you up as my self confidence coach.”

  She could hear Trix’s smile. “You okay? It’s the Christmas holidays, festive cheer is totally acceptable.”

  Evie rubbed her eyes, glancing behind her at the mess of papers lying around her room. “I’ll cheer up just as soon as I wake up.”

  “Hun, you really have to start getting a half decent sleeping routine in place. It’s almost noon.”

  Evie groaned. “I fell back to sleep after breakfast. I had a crazy time last night.”

  “Why? I thought you were going shopping with Lou?”

  Now was her cue to tell it all like it had happened. Starting with the antique shop, the dizzy spell, and the talons of the crow boy. Instead she spoke about something entirely different. “Bella Morris invited me to be Snow Queen at the ball.”

  Stunned silence.


  “After she destroyed my final art sketches, and broke my phone.”

  “Sweet zombie Jesus,” Trix said, summing it all up perfectly.

  “There’s no way I’m going.”

  Trix exploded, “Get out, you are so going! I’m going too. She can’t say who comes to the school prom and who doesn’t.”

  Nerves flooded Evie’s system, she didn’t even bother to correct Trix’s American slip. “You’re not serious are you? I might as well wheel myself in on a little wheelbarrow holding up a sign that says kick this freak for free.”

  Trix wasn’t backing down. “Don’t talk crap, Evie. You’re going to go as the Snow Queen! The most awesomely do-able Snow Queen in high school history. Bella’s going to regret inviting you.”

  Evie was regretting telling Trix about the invitation. She seriously doubted her do-ability. There was no way she could compete with Bella Morris. There was no way she even wanted to.

  “I really don’t-”

  “No ifs, buts or don’ts. Get your ass in gear and meet me at the tube station. It’s market day, we can go looking for gowns.”

  Before Evie could protest about being grounded Trix hung up. Evie put down her receiver and gave in to the inevitable.

  Chapter Six

  Half an hour later Evie was standing outside the tube station, shivering, even in her winter duffel coat. She saw Trix easily among the people that came bundling out onto the street. Now that the holiday season had begun Trix’s hair was a crazy shade of blue, gathered up in elaborate pigtails, each braided through with red, black and green ribbons.

  She wore a tribal gypsy skirt, one she had made for her belly dance classes. The many patterned layers flared around her, and the coin scarves jingled musically as she came toward Evie. On top she wore a slim fitting black jumper that accented her long snaky torso.

  When she danced she did look like a snake, lithe, sinewy and unbelievably flexible. Guys stared at her when she wasn’t in her school uniform, their heads nearly turned three hundred and sixty degrees when she walked by and she didn’t seem to notice. If she did, it had never had any effect on her.

  She kissed each of Evie’s cheeks French style as soon as she reached her.

  “Shouldn’t you have brought a coat with you? It’s freeeezing.” Evie shivered to emphasise her point.

  Trix shrugged. “It’s a warm jumper. You know I never feel the cold. I’m not human.”

  That joke held more resonance than it ever had before. Evie tried to repress thoughts of the night before, but they crept into her head as they neared the street with the antique shop. She glanced down it as they passed. In the daylight it didn’t look sinister at all.

  Evie slowed down a little, straining her eyes to see if the alleyway was still absent. She knew it would be. If not for the fine cuts all down her legs from where she’d knelt on the glassy floor, she’d have passed it all off for insanity once and for all.

  The innocent street was filled with Saturday shoppers, rushing about to get their final Christmas boxes. Gemini Ink was open for business. A gang of rowdy youths crowded its doorway, spilling out from inside the shop.

  Only one person stood at odds with the scene. A boy leaned casually against a gutter pipe running up the wall of the antique store. His sudden movement as her eyes passed over him made her attention snap back to take him in entirely.

  He pushed himself away from the wall and stood staring back at her. In the brief few seconds they had before Trix dragged Evie on past she took in sharp cheekbones and a mass of fine golden braids. They fell straight and untangled right down to the leather belt at his hips, and the winter sun was caught in each one, gleaming strangely so that he appeared to have a halo.

  He was wearing a long black cloak, fastened at his right shoulder over a fitted claret waistcoat. He blew an arrogant kiss at her just as he disappeared from view.

  She stumbled on the pavement, tripping over her own feet and crashing down into an icy puddle. It hurt like hell. Trix helped her up and out of the way as the multitude of people trudged on past. They’d have trudged right on top of her if she’d landed flat enough.

  “Ye gods Evie, what just happened?” Trix said.

  Evie’s knees stung as if she’d just had nails hammered into them, but as soon as she looked into Trix’s bright blue eyes they both roared with laughter. It took several recoveries and relapses before they managed to speak at all.

  “I was checking out some talent. There was a really strange looking guy down one of the side streets.” She spoke breathlessly, clutching at a stitch in her side. “ I think he blew a kiss at me.”

  Trix rolled her eyes, “Let’s hope he didn’t see your spectacular landing.” She giggled, hooking arms with Evie. “I suppose I’ll have to carry you around the market now, unless you want to go find this guy so he can kiss your pretty knees better.”

  Evie shook her head, allowing Trix to lead her on up the high street. The image of the golden haired boy didn’t want to fade away. He’d been standing there in the street, decked out in Goth finery, but she wondered if he had even been real.

  Maybe it was the revenge of her virgin mind, telling her she needed to experience her first kiss. Fast. Before she made up any more imaginary men.

  “Let’s get some pizza first, I’m starving.” Trix interrupted her thoughts, and they turned into the takeaway Pizza parlour.

  “You are always starving, and always eating. I don’t know how you stay so skinny,” Evie complained, poking her friend’s flat stomach.

  “Dance like a maniac. Eat all you want,” Trix said, studying the menu on the wall. “Simple as that. Want to share a medium pepperoni?”

  Evie nodded, though she wasn’t that hungry. Trix leaned over the counter and ordered. The boy at the till struck up a conversation with Trix about her accent, asking how long she’d been away from America. Evie stayed quiet, and watched the ease and confidence her friend had with some envy. The boy gave Trix his number on the receipt when the pizza was ready, and she promised to text him details about some obscure American rock bands.

  They went down a path further along the road, leading to the edge of the canal running under the High Street. Evie threw her coat down for them to sit on the icy pavement, but as she did she heard familiar laughter coming from a gang of kids sitting further up, under the bridge.

  She turned her head to look, seeing Bella and Jessica and the other girls, along with half the school rugby team lounging on blankets as if it was summertime. Evie noticed they were drinking cans of cheap beer.

  “Trix,” she whispered, hoping they could sneak off without being noticed, but Bella’s piercing call interrupted her, letting her know it was too late.

  “It’s our Snow Queen!” she called, and the others laughed as though she’d told a witty joke.

  Trix flopped down on Evie’s coat and opened the pizza box, taking a slice out carefully to avoid spilling the topping. “Look Evie, it's the trolls under the bridge.” She didn’t look at the others, but she made her voice loud enough for them to hear.

  “Let’s just go eat somewhere else.”

  Trix sank her teeth into her slice of pizza and tore off a mouthful. “No way Evie, you can’t just run off.”

  Evie tried to block out the sound of Bella talking about them, and the jeers of the others. “Yes I can. Seriously Trix, I want to go.”

  Trix broke off another slice of the pizza and handed it to Evie. “Just eat up, and we'll get away faster. “

  Evie sighed, and bit into her slice angrily. She couldn’t believe that Bella and her gang had shown up. It was as if the fates were giving her the finger.

  The pizza tasted like clay in her mouth, and she wished she hadn’t worn her red and black Living Dead Dolls jumper. She could hear Jessica White laughing about it, asking what the hell the two of them were wearing.

  Evie dearly wanted to put her coat back on.

  Trix ate the pizza faster than usual, and Evie was grateful. When she walked a little
away to put the box in the litterbin, Evie shrugged on her winter coat quickly.

  As they walked back to the high street Jessica, and Bella’s boyfriend Carson stood up and followed them. Evie felt foolish but she sped up until Trix was almost jogging to keep up with her. She turned off the road into the nearest clothes shop, looking back to see Jessica and Carson head on up to the market area.

  Trix followed her gaze, and then rolled her eyes. “Seriously Evie, you shouldn’t let them get to you like that.”

  Evie only shrugged in response. It didn’t matter how much she wanted to stand up for herself. When the time came she always wished she could just crawl into a corner and die.

  A shop assistant peered at them from behind the counter at the back of the shop, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Can I help you, ladies?” she called.

  Trix walked back out into the street, beckoning for Evie to follow. “This ball’s going to be good for you, you know that?”

  Evie didn’t answer.

  Chapter Seven

  Louise reached the top of the stairs with immeasurable relief, setting the heavy mirror down on the landing outside her bedroom. She’d expected Evie would still be home to help her move it, but she was gone, having left a scribbled note in the hallway. So much for her being grounded.

  She pushed her door open and with one last burst of effort carried the mirror to the far wall. She had already hammered several nails into place, and she positioned the mirror carefully, hanging it with the strong threads on the back.

  She stepped back until she could see her whole self in the glass. Her reflection wasn’t at all what she expected. She knew she’d been putting on weight. Eating out of boredom, or eating to avoid having to think about where her marriage was heading, about whether her mother had been right when she’d said marrying a man nearly twenty years older was a bad idea.