Dead Flesh (12 page)

“I know what
you mean,” Kayla added. “Isidor and I have been there.”

“We decided to
stay out of town in a motel,” Elizabeth

continued. “And
it was as we made our way back through town to our car, that I saw
your advert in the shop window and that word ‘pushed’ made me think
of what Emily had said to me. Do you think you can help?”

Not wanting to
give away how much I knew about the world being pushed, I looked
across the table at Elizabeth and said, “I think it would be best
if you returned straight to Lon…Linden. You can be of little to no
help here. And just in case you are wrong about McCain, surely it
would be better if you were at home, where your sister knows that
she can find you. I will make some enquires at the school and with
the local police. Please can you give me your sister’s full name,
date of birth, bank details, mobile phone number and car
index?”

“Why?”
Elizabeth asked me.

“It may help
with my enquiries.”

“Do you think
you might be able to discover what happened to my sister?”
Elizabeth said, writing down the information that I had asked
for.

“I don’t know
the answer to that question,” I said softly. “But you have my
guarantee that I will do my very best to discover the truth for
you. But it does seem like a most desperate case where your sister
is concerned and it would be wrong of me to give you false
hope.”

“It’s not hope
that I’m looking for,” Elizabeth said. “It’s the truth that I
seek.”

“Then go back
to Linden tonight and I shall be in contact with you as soon as I
have some news,” I tried to assure her.

Elizabeth stood
up and went to the door. Isidor followed her as if to show her out.
But at the door, she turned to look back at me.

“Pushed,” she
said. “You know what my sister was talking about don’t you, Kiera
Hudson?”

I looked
straight back at her, and with half a smile I said, “That’s what we
do, Miss Clarke. We push back where others can’t. Goodbye.”

Kiera

“I’ll do it,”
Kayla said as soon as Elizabeth had left the room.

“Do what?” I
asked her.

“Go into
Ravenwood School,” she said, looking at me straight in the eye.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Out of the
question,” I said, getting up and leaving the room.

“How else are
we gonna find out what’s happening in there?” she called out,
running down the corridor after me.

I reached the
great hall as Isidor was closing the door behind our visitor. “Have
a word with your sister,” I said to him as I made my way back to
the kitchen.

“Why, what’s
she done?” Isidor muttered, sounding lost.

“She thinks
she’s one of Charlie’s Angels,” Potter snipped as he followed close
behind me.

“I don’t think
I’m a Charlie’s Angel!” Kayla shouted as she stormed into the
kitchen.

“You’re not
doing it,” I told her flatly.

“Why not?” she
asked, and I could hear frustration simmering just beneath the
surface.

“Who’s this
Charlie dude?” Isidor asked as he wandered into the kitchen.

Potter turned
on him and said, “At first I thought the whole dumb thing was just
an act, but now I’m beginning to wonder if you’re not just a bit
thick.”

“All I asked
was…” Isidor started.

“Whatever,”
Potter growled, sitting on the corner of the kitchen table where he
lit another cigarette. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Your sister
thinks it would be a good idea if she went undercover into
Ravenwood School,” I explained to Isidor, feeling a little sorry
for him.

He stood by the
kitchen door and scratched his tuft of a beard. “That’s, like, a
really bad idea Kayla,” Isidor said.

“Why is it?”
she snapped at him, and he almost seemed to flinch backwards. “I’m
not a kid anymore and I wish you would stop treating me like
one.”

“No one is
treating you like a kid,” I tried to assure her. “It’s just
that…”

“It’s too
dangerous,” she said, spraying mock laughter. “After everything
that we’ve been through together, everything that I’ve seen and
done and you still don’t trust me.”

“Steady on,”
Potter cut in. “This has nothing to do with trust.”

“And who asked
you, Potter?” Kayla ripped back. “You don’t really care about me. I
asked you the other day to lend me the money to buy an iPod and you
told me to fuck off, so stop pretending that you care.”

“What’s that
got to do with anything?” Potter snapped, blowing smoke through his
nostrils. “It’s not up to me to provide you with all the must-have
gadgets. I’m not your father.”

“So stop trying
to act like one!” Kayla roared at him. “When my real father died
you told me I had to toughen up, remember? You said there was no
place for booing and wooing and the only way to defeat the enemy
was by being strong and hitting back.”

“Did I really
say that?” Potter asked me.

“Yes,” I
nodded, cringing at the thought of how he had broken the news of
the death of her father.

“See, I’m not a
jerk like so many people believe,” he said with a serious look on
his face. “I gave you some good advice back there.”

“That wasn’t
good advice,” Isidor said in disbelief. “That was cruel. And you
said I looked like Shaggy-Doo. I looked him up on the internet and
everything. I don’t look nothing like a Great Dane!”

“I wasn’t
talking about the fucking dog!” Potter groaned. “Tell me something,
Isidor, have you never watched T.V.?”

“I read,”
Isidor told him proudly. “I don’t watch T.V. I like to use my
imagination.”

“Don’t we know
it,” Potter grumbled.

“Look, can we
please stop talking about Scooby-Doo and God knows what else?” I
gasped in disbelief. “It’s like living with a bunch of kids.”

“He started
it,” Potter said, pointing at Isidor.

“No, I did
not,” Isidor shot back. “You said I looked like a cartoon dog.”

“Yeah and you
keep calling me Gabriela,” Potter barked, climbing from the
table.

“Gabriel,”
Isidor said, stepping closer to Potter. “Besides it wasn’t me who
called you that, it was those Elders and…”

“Please!” I
screamed, slamming my fists down onto the table. “Enough already! I
can’t take any more.”

The room fell
into silence. It was so quiet that if we’d had hearts we would’ve
been able to hear them beating. I drew a deep breath. Then, turning
to look at Kayla, I said, “If you really want to do this, I won’t
hold you back.”

“You really
mean that, Kiera?” Kayla asked, her eyes wide. “What changed your
mind?”

“You’re right,”
I told her. Then, looking at Potter, I added, “and however much it
pains me to say this, Potter was right too. Sometimes it doesn’t do
any good wallowing in self-pity. Sometimes you have to take the
fight to the enemy.”

“It sounds like
suicide to me,” Isidor said.

“Perhaps you
should go then,” Potter mumbled and I shot an angry look at
him.

Then, turning
to look at Kayla, Potter said, “Are you sure about this? You’ve got
nothing to prove to any of us. I know how tough you can be and I’d
be happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in any fight.”

“Thanks,” she
half-smiled. “I know I don’t have to go into Ravenwood School, but
how else are we going to find out what’s happened to Emily Clarke?
I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? I’m dead already.”

“You can still
be destroyed,” Isidor said, stepping towards his sister and
wrapping his arm about her shoulder. “If one of those wolves were
to cut off your head, or…what if one of them tried to match with
you?”

“Yeah, thanks
for your input, Shakespeare,” Potter said. “Why don’t you go bury
your head in a book?”

“No, Isidor is
right,” I said. “What if one of those wolves tries to match with
Kayla – what would happen then?”

“Let’s just
hope that they don’t like the look of me,” Kayla half joked.

I didn’t want
to dwell on the danger that Kayla was putting herself in – the
danger we were all placing her in, so I said, “You’ve got a week in
there - max. No more. And one whiff of danger and you fly straight
out of there.”

“I promise,”
Kayla said, and I could see the excitement burning in her eyes at
the thought of the adventure and mystery that lay ahead of her.

“And if we
sense for one moment that you are in danger, we are coming in after
you,” Potter told her.

“How are we
going to know if she’s in danger?” Isidor quizzed. “We won’t be in
contact with her. It’s not like she can pop home one evening or
give us a call.”

Potter reached
into his back jeans pocket and pulled something from it. “Kayla can
keep in contact with this,” he said, throwing whatever it was that
he had fished from his pocket across the room at her.

Kayla snatched
it from the air and her face lit up. “It’s an iPod!” she
beamed.

“I got it for
you when I went over the wall a few days ago,” Potter said. Then
swallowing hard, as if what he was about to say was going to choke
him somehow, he said, “I’m sorry for telling you to fuck off the
other week when you asked me to lend you the money. I was just
feeling a bit cranky that day. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

With a smile
spread across her face, Kayla came around the table and threw her
arms around Potter. “Thank you,” she said.

I could see
that Potter didn’t know whether or not to hug her back, as his arms
hung uncomfortably at his sides. “Yeah, yeah, that’s okay. Just
remember, I’m not your dad. That thing cost me nearly three hundred
pounds, so you can pay me the money back if and when you ever get a
job,” he said, then winked at me over her shoulder.

Kayla let go of
Potter and looked down at the iPod.

“How is Kayla
going to keep in contact with that?” Isidor asked.

Before Potter
had a chance of saying anything back to Isidor, I said, “Kayla will
be able to send emails to my iPod and we can Skype. That way we can
talk and see each other.” Seeing the look of concern on Isidor’s
face for his sister, I added, “You’ll be able to see and chat to
Kayla too.”

“Good,” he
smiled; although I could see that he was still scared for her.

“So what’s the
plan?” Kayla asked. “How do I get inside the school? Shall I fly
over the wall?”

“No,” Potter
said shaking his head. “They might wonder where you suddenly
appeared from. They must keep a register – something like that. We
need a good cover story.”

“My parents are
both dead, right?” Kayla cut in. “So how about, I’ve been sent here
to live with my Uncle Potter. But my uncle can’t be bothered with
having some spoilt teenager hanging around the place, so he packs
me off to the local boarding school?”

“It sounds
okay, I guess,” I said thoughtfully. “Do you think this McCain will
buy it?”

“Why not?”
Potter said. “It doesn’t sound like this McCain is the sort of guy
to turn a kid away. He needs as many as he can get, remember?”

“When shall I
go in?” Kayla asked, refusing to let go of the iPod that Potter had
bought for her.

“I’ll call
McCain tomorrow,” Potter said thoughtfully. Then, looking at Kayla,
he added, “Don’t just stand there, go and pack a bag.”

Without saying
another word, Kayla left the kitchen. Isidor followed her, but on
reaching the door, he looked back at the both of us and said, “You
better be right about this.”

Before I’d had
the chance to say anything, he had gone. I turned to Potter to see
him light another cigarette. “That was a really nice thing that you
did,” I said to him.

“Oh yeah, and
what was that?” he asked me.

“Buying that
iPod for Kayla,” I said, moving across the kitchen towards him,
needing a hug.

“It was
nothing,” he shrugged, taking me in his arms.

“It wasn’t
nothing to her,” I told him. “I saw that look of delight on her
face. You made her really happy.”

Smiling down at
me he said, “Fancy making me really happy?”

“And how might
I do that?” I smiled back.

“By letting me
share your bed tonight, sweetcheeks,” he said. “It gets lonely in
the gatehouse.”

As I led him to
my bedroom, I looked at him and said, “So where did you get the
cash to be able to afford that iPod?”

“You know that
little tin that you have hidden on the shelf in the kitchen back in
your flat?” he said.

“Yeah, the tin
with my savings in...” Realising where he had got the money, I
pushed him hard in the chest. “You are so naughty...”

But before I’d
the chance to finish what I was going to say, Potter was leaning
into me. “You love it when I’m naughty,” he whispered in my ear.
Then, throwing open my bedroom door, he pushed me down onto the
bed.

The next
morning, as planned, Potter found the number of Ravenwood School on
the Web and called McCain. Potter explained that Kayla’s parents
had recently been killed in a boating accident and she had been
left in his charge. He said that his niece was fairly wayward and
he was too busy and lacked the patience to deal with her. As Potter
had suspected, McCain was all too willing to take Kayla into his
care. He even waived the school fees. McCain informed Potter that
he would send a car to collect Kayla within the hour.

I couldn’t help
but feel a lump in my throat as Kayla appeared at the foot of the
stairs that led into the great hall. In her hand she clutched a
small case.

“Are you sure
about this?” I asked, giving her a hug.

“I’m sure,” she
said.

“Remember what
we‘ve all agreed. You make contact every morning and every night.
If we don’t hear from you, then we’re coming in to find you,” I
told her.