After about five minutes of walking a bigger crowd appears up ahead, all standing at the very edge of the water. “We’re not going to be able to see a thing.” I say to Finn in frustration. He only sighs in response. I stare ahead, gazing at the crowd. There’s a divide of about three foot directly down the middle that no one dares step into. I realise that this is the divide between those who inhabit South Tribane and those who inhabit North Tribane. There is a truce for the moment, so long as neither side steps inside the territory of the other.
Well I definitely can’t use this gap to get nearer to the front of the crowd, even if I am supposed to be neutral. This reminds me that I was supposed present myself in front of the two Governors and declare my position. I have a funny feeling that isn’t going to be happening now, especially since Herrington has been murdered.
Then, all of a sudden, I see this tiny white speck of light coming towards me. Like the tip of a very small torch. “Do you see that?” I ask Finn, “the light coming toward us.”
Finn looks in the direction I’m gesturing but only shakes his head to tell he can’t see what I’m talking about. The next thing I know the light is right in front of me and Rita and Alvie step out of it.
“Hey,” she says with a grin. “Cool trick huh? We couldn’t find you in the crowd so I used a little spell I made up.”
“Yeah, it’s good all right, but how come Finn couldn’t see it?” I ask.
Rita shakes her head, still grinning. “I cast it so only you could see it, can you imagine what would happen if every misfit here saw the light? They’d think it was Theodore and chaos would break out.”
“I suppose you’re right, so what’s the deal? Do you think it really is Theodore behind all this?”
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” says Rita. “Now come on you two, I’ll take us back up to the front.”
Finn looks uncertain as Rita begins gesturing with her hands, casting her silent spell. Reluctantly, he steps in close to us and the next thing I know we’re hovering above the gathered people, trapped inside of Rita’s light. A moment later we’re standing at the head of the North Tribane side, among the warlocks and the dhamphirs. They don’t even seem to notice us appear, as though we’d been standing there the whole time. Rita is even more powerful with magic than I’d thought.
After a beat Marcel and Gabriel spot us and come to stand by Finn. Marcel doesn’t even bother to look at me, as though I am dead to him now. It actually surprises me that I don’t really care about that so much. Finn stands and speaks to them quietly, but I can’t hear what he’s saying. Rita and Alvie have their arms linked and they stand staring out into the water, anticipation in their eyes. I step close to Rita and link my arm through hers, because she’s the person I trust the most to keep me safe right now. She accepts my arm wordlessly and continues staring.
“What are you two looking at?” I ask.
/> “The Island,” Rita answers, and nods her head out at the water where Ridley Island lies in direct view of us just under a mile out from the port.
“Oh. Why?”
“It’s way too obvious. We were all instructed to come to the area of the port where there’s the best view of Ridley. Something’s going to happen over there, I can feel it.”
I stare around at the others present and realise that nearly everyone else is staring out at the Island too. Suddenly I understand what Rita means, there is a definite feeling of electricity buzzing from the direction of Ridley. A cold shiver tip toes down my spine.
I sense somebody looking at me and turn my head over to the vampires to find Ethan’s eyes boring into me, a question in his expression. Why am I standing with his enemies? I shrug my shoulders and send him a look of confusion, as if to tell him that I don’t know myself. Beside him are Delilah and Lucas, and the barman from the club with the long brown dreadlocks. I hadn’t pegged him for a vampire. To the left of Ethan is the recently bereaved Antonia Herrington with her three bodyguards, the two burly men and Dru.
Antonia has an air of determination about her. If Theodore does happen to show up here tonight she is sure to want his guts for garters. She appears even more severe out here in the open, with the dying grey light just about to fade away into darkness. Her white hair is pulled back into a tight bun like the last time I saw her. She wears a dark grey designer suit with pearls around her neck.
Dru, alongside the other two bodyguards, is scanning the area with her eyes, keeping a look out for any threats. She catches my eye as I’m looking at Antonia and smiles lazily. She’s wearing all black again, with big heavy duty steel toe cap boots on. Despite her smile I can tell that she’s wondering what I’m doing standing with my arm linked through a witch’s.
I glance away and back out at the Island. There is nothing on it, no buildings, just a bare expanse of land, probably about a mile long and two miles wide. Not a very big island at all. Rita had mentioned that there was once a mansion there surrounded by carnival rides, but that had been back in Theodore’s heyday. Now it is devoid of anything at all.
“How long is it until sundown?” I ask, turning my head a fraction to Rita.
She glances at her watch before answering, “Just under five minutes.”
Expectation fills me, along with a certain degree of fear. I wonder what Nicky is up to right now. I wish I could be with her, wherever she is, probably in her spare room doing some painting. Life would be so much better right now if I were there with her, watching her paint while I drink a glass of wine and listen to a CD of one of the many obscure independent bands we like to support. I miss her so much. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I miss the simple life of grief and solitude I’d been living up until recently, with Nicky being my only connection to the outside world. Now all I know is strangeness and an abyss of the unknown.
The next four minutes pass quickly as I spend time in my own head, having a discussion with myself about what my life once was. It had been a sad little life, but at least I knew where I stood with it. At least I knew that monsters were made up. Only they weren’t. Air seems to get sucked out of the space as the final thirty seconds before sundown come along, each second lingering for longer than normal. As though in slow motion.
Rita’s hold seems to tighten on my arm as the half minute comes to an end and the sun disappears under the horizon. The moment it’s gone I hear faint music begin to play, and it tickles at my memory. Where is it coming from? The others seem to be hearing it too, we all glance around in an effort to discern its source. Then I remember. This is the music I’d heard that time as I’d been leaving Crimson to walk home by myself. The old piano music from the twenties.
It’s slow at first and very, very quiet. But as it gets louder it also begins to speed up, like a merry-go-round. Is this Theodore’s music? Had he been close by that last time I’d heard it? Rita had mentioned that he liked to collect antique fair rides. This is the exact kind of music that would be playing alongside such rides back in the day.
“Do you hear that?” I ask Rita, but she only nods in response, her eyes darting this way and that. Then she closes them, as though trying to sense what is creating the music with the magic she holds inside of her. Suddenly her eyes shoot open, almost in shock.
“It’s him,” she breathes. “It really is him.”
“Where is he Rita?” Alvie asks urgently.
But before she has the chance to answer, the ground begins to shake. Like a mild earthquake. I have never experienced one before, Tribane doesn’t generally get them. I look around but it seems that the vibration isn’t coming from the ground on which we are standing. My eyes wander out to the water where it ripples violently, and then I realise that the shaking is coming from Ridley Island. Soon it seems that everybody else has realised the same thing, because now we are all watching Ridley, and it is a sight to behold.