Chapter Twelve - Escaping....Mostly

                                    

                                          

                          
Tala sat in the car, still as she could be, while the crowds of people were around. If she moved at the wrong moment, someone was bound to catch a picture of the “invisible girl” and a million stories about ghosts would spread around and she’d be in trouble one way or another. 
                          

                          
  She watched Blue and Sophie run away, hoping Blue had the sense to take Sophie somewhere safe. Somewhere the Society wouldn’t think of. Tala could name a few places, but it was too late for that now. They should’ve thought, should’ve been better prepared. 
                          

                          
Shut up, Tally, she chided herself, no sense in playing the “if only” game.
                          

                          
Chrysanthemum was talking to the crowd, telling them to back away. Telling them people could be hurt. Telling them a million stories, to make them believe that they saw something else. It was working, to some degree. But not enough. 
                          

                          
 Tala glanced round and caught sight of police officers, marching towards them, clearing the crowd. Tala recognised a couple of faces as the agents who had tried to bring her in, when she’d first made her presence known in the magical world. 
                          

                          
  Chrysanthemum saw them too and turned back to Tala with one quick flick of her head. Tala took the hint. She leapt out of the open car door and fell hard on the road. Invisible, she crawled along the ground, weaving between legs, desperate not to be noticed. 
                          

                          
“Hey! Little girl! Stop!”
                          

                          
Tala cursed and a few confused people looked in the direction of the sound. The Society agents knew about her camouflage tricks. Unfortunately, they probably knew the ways to spot her as well. 
                          

                          
  Tala was out of the crowd and running. Feet chasing her but that was ok. Tala was good at escaping. Tala never got caught. 
                          

                          
  Except now she was in a town full of people and buildings and things that were completely unfamiliar to her. She had nowhere to go. Her magic was next to useless. She wasn’t a magician, not here, full of people. She was just an invisible girl trying to run away. And they were still chasing her. 
                          

                          
  Tala ran and launched herself at a building. She slammed into the concrete wall, crying out in pain, but her fingers snatched at a ledge and she was up, bleeding and bruised but still alive. 
                          

                          
  Tala’s chin smacked the roof as something hit her in the small of her back, lifting her off her feet. She groaned and turned round to see her pursuers scrambling up behind her. 
                          

                          
“Where’d she go?” one of them shouted.
                          

                          
A second frowned and his gaze fell on Tala. “That’s her.”
                          

                          
Tala scrambled to her feet and half-ran half-limped across the roof. She still had an advantage, more or less. 
                          

                          
It’ll all be fine, she promised herself. It always is.
                          

                          
Her step faltered as she reached the edge of the roof but she jumped anyway. Empty space sailed by beneath her. Nobody below saw her. The building in front loomed closer…and Tala landed rolling, crashing into an unexpected skylight. She dragged herself to her feet and kept running.