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.
“Stop! Stop or we’ll shoot!”
Now people were looking, staring at Society agents, trying to work out who they were shouting at. Tala didn’t bother to stop. She just kept running.
Where to go? Where to go? She hadn’t been in a town for a long time. She didn’t know any places, any hideouts, anywhere to go unnoticed. She was completely vulnerable.
Tala ran along rooftops, sprinting unafraid across ridgepoles, thankfully still perfectly balanced. She risked a glance back and saw one agent launching himself over the wide gap. She swore under her breath. Elemental. Not good.
Slates, concrete, tiles…they all passed under her feet in a blur. Tala sped up, stretching out her arms, pushing off nothing. She nearly flew as she soared over roads, desperate, panicking, not sure where to go.
Suddenly, she was running on nothing. Arms flailing, Tala fell down into open space. She stretched out her fingers, desperate to snag a passing ledge or something but this wasn’t the forest. Everything was too flat, too smooth, too unwelcoming.
She hit the ground with a thud that jarred every bone in her body. The air rushed out of her lungs and she lay still, gasping, struggling to breathe.
This would be a really bad time to pass out, she warned herself.
But her vision was spotted and there was nothing to do except shut her eyes and pray that nobody found her.
Sophie fell to her knees, gasping for breath, trying not to be sick.
“What the hell was that?” she panted.
“Teleporting,” Blue looked down at her, amused. “You didn’t like it?”
“Unexpectedly disappearing into non-being and materialising somewhere else tends to turn the stomach. Particularly when non-being doesn’t exactly contain oxygen and you didn’t give me a chance to take a breath.”
Blue shrugged. “Hey, it’s fine. We’re out of there. Stop stressing.”
“Where are we?” Sophie looked around. “Seriously?”
Blue sighed. “It made sense at the time.”
They were in a cemetery.
“Any idea where we are?” Sophie asked, scowling at him.
“A cemetery?”
“A cemetery where?”
Blue rubbed his nose. “It’s where I grew up, ok? It’s…a place I know. But I haven’t been back here in a long time.”
Sophie looked at a nearby gravestone. “Ellen McKenzie,” she murmured. “Why haven’t you been back?”
“Your parents don’t know you exist?”
Sophie started. “No. They don’t.”
Blue nodded. “Yeah. That’s our curse. Yours and mine. Tala ran out on her family. Celia’s lot were already magicians. Our parents don’t know we ever existed. Still, you have it ok.”
“What do you mean, ok?” Sophie nearly shrieked. “How is it ok?”
“At least you know.”
Sophie stopped. “What?”
“I was eight when they wiped me from the memory of the world,” Blue explained. “I went out to school one day. On my way home, everything went sort of cold. I went to my house but the key didn’t fit in the lock. I knocked on the door and my parents didn’t know who I was.”
“Oh,” Sophie didn’t know what to say.
“I got over it,” Blue said, breezily. “But it was bad for a while, trying to figure out what had happened.”
“You know,” Sophie said, thoughtfully, “I’m beginning to think that it would better if I did join the Necromancers. Got rid of the Society for good.”
Blue shook his head. “Got rid of the world for good. You’re forgetting that part.”
“Oh. Yeah,” Sophie pulled a face. “Sorry.”
Blue shrugged. “Hey, I think the Necromancers are amazing. I want to be one.”
“You’re not scared of them?”
“Princess, I’m not scared of anybody.”
Chrysanthemum made sure to keep her face emotionless.
“Miss Bone, I’m sure you understand the situation,” Peer drawled.
“No.”
“It is clear that…what?”
“No.”
“No what?”
“No, I don’t understand the situation.”
Peer stared at her. “You don’t?”
“No.”
Peer took a deep breath and shut his eyes. “Miss Bone, you aided a prison break. You then consorted with criminals. Following that, you led a car chase through an area highly populated with mortals taking no trouble to disguise your magical attributes.”
“Well, Rutha, there are a few small problems with that statement,” Chrysanthemum fixed him with her best charming smile. Peer blinked.
“There are?”
“Firstly, I gave no assistance during any prison breaks. I did not speak to any listed criminals. The car chase was initiated by your own agents, and I showed no magical attributes during or after it.”
Peer pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed out slowly.
“Miss Bone, Sophie Merith’s escape was clearly assisted by experts.”
“Yes,” Chrysanthemum smiled, “but not me. Isn’t the Night Princess expert enough?”
“Regardless of the prison break, you were clearly in the presence of Sophie Merith!”
“Who is not a listed criminal. She has not broken the law.”
“She broke out of prison!” Peer roared.
Chrysanthemum made her smile as demure and innocent as she could. “I know the law books. Breaking out of prison is not against the law. Imprisonment without just cause, however, is.”
Peer’s expression darkened. “Miss Bone, regarding your recent behaviour and your past record, I am placing you under arrest.”
“No,” Chrysanthemum said, simply. “You’re not.”
Peer lifted up a hand. “Miss Bone, I’ve been lenient on you for years. But you test my patience.”
“What are you? King or something?” Chrysanthemum rolled her eyes. “Rutha, please stop being an insecure politician for a few minutes and just listen to me.”
Peer stared at her for a long time. “I would prefer “sir”, Miss Bone.”
“And I would prefer Chrysanthemum, Rutha.”
“A lot of time has passed,” Peer said, coolly. “I’m not a child anymore.”
“You were never a child,” Chrysanthemum said, mockingly. “But never mind. I’ll see you some other time.”
“You are under arrest!” Peer snapped. “You are going nowhere!”
Chrysanthemum sighed. “I was already running with fugitives. Time to become one, I guess.”
“Guards!” Peer yelled.
Chrysanthemum traced a shape on the carpet with her foot.
“Goodbye, Rutha. It’s been nice seeing you again.”
As guards burst through the doors, Chrysanthemum vanished.