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The Ape clamps a giant sweaty paw over GG’s mouth.

‘Anyone?’ the Non-Ape calls out, just like he did on the train.

No one says a word. No one breathes.

‘Anyone?” he calls again.

The grille rattles and we can see it bowing inwards through the tall glass doors.

‘Oh God,’ the Moth whispers, but immediately gets the Ape’s other meaty paw slapped down over his face. The Ape holds GG and the Moth like a plumber trying to block several
leaks all at once.

We wait.

Stubby fingers slide under the grille.

The grille starts to lift.

It shouldn’t do that, and certainly not this easily. The Non-Ape is powerful beyond belief.

The grille screeches in metallic protest but it’s coming up whether it likes it or not.

‘Move,’ I mouth.

The Ape releases GG and the Moth and the only place I think we can reach in time is the concierge’s desk. I point to it and GG tiptoes towards it, as light as a ballerina. The Ape tips the
Moth back in his wheelchair so that only the rear wheels are touching the marble floor and he pushes him as quick as he dares. I want to go with them but then I remember the bodies under the
blankets. I go for Carrie who isn’t Carrie and start tugging her out of sight.

But the grille is rising too quickly and I can already see the lower half of the Non-Ape’s body. A quick glance assures me that the others are now out of sight behind the concierge’s
desk. I’m caught, trapped between trying to move bodies or trying to run to safety.

I’m too late though. The screeching pierce of the grille stops and the Non-Ape is starting to hunker down to take a look inside the hotel.

There is nothing for it but to slide under the blanket with Carrie who really and truly isn’t Carrie, and in so many ways now.

I pull the blanket over me as I stretch out along Carrie’s body. My face presses close to hers and when I look I realise her dead eyes are staring straight back at me.

‘Anyone?’

The Non-Ape could walk clean through the glass doors if he so desired. As easy as walking through air.

The only thing I have in my favour is that the Non-Ape might actually be stupider than my Ape. He may look at the blankets stretched out on the lobby floor and think that’s pretty normal
for a hotel.

He may even think the pools of blood are a feature.

‘HEY!’ His voice booms out.

I realise I am shaking now, trembling all over.

But then Carrie’s eyes blink.

And I realise it’s not me that’s shaking, it’s Evil-GG. He has heard the Non-Ape and he is trying to reanimate Carrie’s desperately lifeless body.

He blinks again and I can feel myself moving, rising upwards.

‘I heard someone,’ the Non-Ape bellows.

I almost have a spasm. He’s going to come in here!

Evil-GG blinks again. A smile turns up the corner of Carrie’s lips. He’s doing everything he can to move her body. I can feel the vibration through my own body. I push down as hard
as I can on him.

The entrance doors are flung open as the grille is dropped behind the Non-Ape. He is coming into the lobby.

The marble floor soaks up the heavy impact of his giant feet. Evil-GG is doing his utmost to move Carrie’s body and it’s all I can do to keep him as still as I can. But he’s
getting stronger and any second now I won’t be able to contain him.

The Non-Ape stops.

He must have seen the struggle I’m having with Evil-GG – there’s no way he can’t have.

I can hear his laboured breathing.

‘Anyone?’ His inability to think of something new to say would be funny if I wasn’t rising up underneath the blanket. Evil-GG is giving it everything he’s got to try and
get the Non-Ape’s attention.

A little of me wonders how he thinks he’s going to explain with any chance of success to the Non-Ape that’s he’s inside a girl’s body now. I strain every silent sinew as
I shove down hard again, pushing Evil-GG back down, using the whole of my body to keep him still.

The Non-Ape rings the bell on the reception desk. ‘Got any rooms?’ he laughs. No one I’ve ever met laughs at his jokes as much as the Non-Ape does.

Evil-GG is pushing as hard as he can against me. Carrie’s body is weak and frail though and I hold him down as best as I can.

The reception bell rings again.

‘I want a double room with a nice view.’ He laughs again.

Evil-GG is reanimating Carrie with all he’s got now and again I feel myself rising. I get cramp in my wrists as I struggle to hold him still. His/her mouth opens and closes –
he’s trying to talk, to call out.

I’m losing the battle. I can feel my strength dwindling and there’s a creeping numbness in my hands. I’m going to be exposed . . .

The entrance doors crash open again, the screeching protesting whine of the grille attacks my ears and then it clangs down mightily – I realise the Non-Ape is leaving. I slump on top of
Carrie’s body, not caring if her blood and cold skin is touching me.

Within seconds the blanket is whipped off me and the Ape pulls me to my feet.

‘Is he gone?’ I ask stupidly.

‘Yep. They didn’t have any rooms available,’ quips GG.

The Ape sees Evil-GG make Carrie’s body twitch again.

‘He was trying to throw me off, get the Non-Ape’s attention,’ I pant.

The Ape bends down and punches Carrie in the face. ‘Won’t be doing that again.’

Carrie’s body stops twitching as we hear the Moth wail. ‘For God’s sakes! Stop hitting her! Why do you keep doing that? I know you didn’t like her but that is just not
fair!!’

After finally moving Carrie and Evil-GG out of the lobby, washing the floor and double checking that all of the grilles were locked in place I go to check on Other-Johnson, who
is propped up in a double bed. The first thing he does is ask me to kiss him.

‘I can’t,’ I tell him.

‘It’s the only thing that kept me going. Thinking we could kiss again,’ he says.

Lying there, bruised but still gorgeous, he tries to get into my mind and manipulate my limbs. But the beating from the Non-Ape and effort of moving Evil-GG’s mind mean he’s too
weak.

‘You should’ve gone back to your Billie,’ I tell him. ‘She could help you get better.’

‘Mm . . .’ he says and avoids my look.

I sense he’s hiding something from me. ‘Mm?’ I ask him.

‘She uh, she’s not too happy with me.’

‘You going to tell me why?’

‘It’s in the past.’

‘It’s not that far in the past, assuming your Ape wants to kill you because of what you did.’

‘It was a misunderstanding. On Billie’s part. Not mine.’

I wait for more.

‘Do I have to give details?’

I nod. Other-Johnson searches for the right words.

‘Rev and I – we were on a break.’

‘How long have you been together?’

‘A year or so.’

A whole year of Other-Johnson
, I think.
Three hundred and sixty-five days of him
.
There can’t be many better ways of spending your time
. Then I try and shake
those thoughts because he’ll be able to read them and I’ll be completely lost to him all over again. But this time we’ll be alone, in a hotel room, with a double bed.

‘But you had a break during the year.’

‘Yeah. Rev’s a little hot-headed, got the worst temper in the world. Shortest fuse you ever saw.’

So she’s not
that
like me. Which makes me a little happier.

‘We had our first big fight and I went away to cool off.’

‘With Billie.’

Other-Johnson hesitates. I can see him thinking,
Should I lie, or should I tell the truth?
He likes and respects me enough to go with the honest facts.

‘Billie was there almost immediately. Offering comfort and understanding and doing all that Rev’s-amazing-but-she-can-be-difficult stuff. I was a little down and we sort of . .
.’ Other-Johnson stops.

‘You kissed.’

He nods and I feel the heat rising within me. Another Billie kissed him behind her best friend’s back. It makes me so angry I could scream. Didn’t he see what she was doing? How she
was manipulating him?

‘The Ape really has a thing for Billie and when I tried to tell her the kiss was stupid and silly she got mad. Told him that I’d come on strong to her.’

Bitch
, I think. I can see her scheming little mind thinking she can get Other-Johnson beaten up and she can then heal him while Rev Two gets forgotten in all the kerfuffle.

‘I went to detention because Rev wasn’t really talking to me and I wanted to explain to her about the kiss. Wasn’t expecting to see the Ape there, but he couldn’t do much
to me in school, apart from tell me what he was going to do to me after school.’

‘So you and your Rev are unresolved,’ I state.

‘That’s the thing, I’m wondering if there is a me and my Rev any more.’ He reaches out and holds on tightly to my hand. ‘Not when there’s someone like
you.’

Again he invades me, but this time he doesn’t need to use his powers. He gets inside me because I can’t resist him. It’s driving me crazy the way I’m lurching from one
Johnson to the other.

‘Know what would make me feel a lot better?’ he says, his eyes alive with desire.

‘I’m sure I can guess.’

‘Lie down with me.’

‘No.’

I don’t know how I manage to squeeze that word out because I am desperate to snuggle up close to Other-Johnson. I want to feel his body reacting to mine again.

‘I’ve got a boyfriend,’ I tease him. ‘I’m promised to someone else.’

‘There is no one else,’ he says. But it’s not cocky or arrogant, it’s just a simple straightforward truth.

I try to think of Johnson, my Johnson, the
real
Johnson, but I’m starting to lose sight of him again and with a huge effort I get to my feet. ‘No,’ I say.
‘No.’

‘Rev.’

‘You’ve got a Rev,’ I tell him, backing towards the door of the hotel room.

‘You’re different,’ he says softly.

‘Yeah, but you and her, you should be together.’

‘Wait.’ He looks at me again and I am powerless to stop him entering my head.
‘I came here for you. I all but crawled on my hands and knees to find you.’

‘How can I be that different from her?’ I ask him.

Other-Johnson’s eyes soften as they gaze into me. He’s lulling me again, compelling me, pulling me back to him.
But he’s weak
, I think, and it’s me who’s
actually going towards him. It’s me who is letting myself draw closer and closer to him.

‘In a million ways you are her and in one way you’re not. The one way that counts.’

‘Which is?’ I whisper.

‘You love me with all your heart.’

I am already by his bedside again and his hand reaches up and he trails a finger down the inside of my arm.

‘Don’t you?’ His finger trails slowly back up my arm. ‘I saw it all, Rev. Your heart is full of me.’

‘And yours?’ I say in a hushed voice.

‘You really need to ask?’

His hand closes round my wrist and he pulls me gently towards him. I look at his mouth, his lips and I’m thinking,
I can’t let this happen again
.

‘We can’t.’

‘I didn’t crawl here for any other reason.’

We’re drawing closer and closer. ‘And you’re still hurt. Weak.’

Our faces are inches apart and I want his kiss. I need it. It’ll be better than the first one and the one after will be even better than that. He’s going to do things to me that
I’ll never come back from and even though I’m scared to death I know there’s no stopping it.

‘God, Rev,’ he sighs.

‘I know.’

Our lips are millimetres apart and his eyes find mine. The time for words is over.

There’s a loud thump outside the bedroom door.

‘Ouch! Sorry, people.’ It’s the Moth. ‘Lost control of this stupid chair. Anyway, can I come in?’

My eyes flick to Other-Johnson’s and he puts a finger to my lips.

‘Rev?’ The Moth raps on the door.

We wait in hushed silence. But the Moth isn’t going away. He raps harder on the door.

‘I finished the book, Rev! I know how to get us home!’

It’s GG’s idea to go to the roof. I wanted Other- Johnson to come with us – he did save us, and he feels like he’s one of us now, but he gave me a
gentle smile and told me he was still a little too bruised and battered. I promised I’d come back to his room as soon as I knew anything. But in that promise lies a horrible fear. If the Moth
can get us home then Other-Johnson can’t come with us,
with me
. I try and shove it to the back of my mind, as far away as possible because then maybe it’ll somehow resolve
itself. Yeah, that’s some hope, Rev.

Midnight has arrived with alarming haste and GG has packed a supper for us. The rooftop is chilly, but he has brought enough blankets and duvets to keep an army warm.

The Moth didn’t want to come up because he said he doesn’t like heights, but we persuaded him. If we’re going to hear news about the book, then at least we can do it in nice
surroundings with food and alcohol. Billie is asleep in her room and we decided it was best to leave her there. I think it was me that made that pronouncement, and then tried to tell myself it was
because she needed the rest. It had nothing whatsoever to do with not quite being able to confront her about the black eyes and the way she is changing. I don’t want to believe it but I think
she’s been infected, or some genetic material from their Lucas has got into her bloodstream.