Chapter Twenty-Five

The Net Closes

It was time for Alexis's training run. Her performance up to this point in the other drills had exceeded Savannah’s, to Elianna’s delight; she’d wasted no time making snide comments reminding Savannah of her display, and even Alexis had taken to mocking her. It was fine coming from Alexis – they were siblings, she was used to it – but Elianna… she wished she’d hurry up and take that bath.

Savannah, Lauren, and Elianna entered the simulation room. The monitorless computer hummed as it projected the hologram. Elianna - covering for an apparently injured Alyssa - selected the simulation while Alexis readied up. Where before there was empty space in the glass box, the gigantic log cabin sprang up.

‘All you have to do, with a combination of the skills you’ve practised, is make it through this simulation. Do try and do better than your sister - not that that will be too difficult.’

Savannah scowled, but refused to provide a more heated reaction. Alexis tilted her head and flashed Elianna a cocky grin. ‘Don’t you worry, I’ll make it through. I’m ready.’

Without waiting for any confirmation, Alexis strutted into the building, bow in hand and daggers strapped to her side.

The hologram before Savannah, Elianna, and Lauren changed, showing the view inside the cabin. Alexis scanned the first room, exploring, looking for the threat.

An arrow whooshed across the room. Alexis leaned to the left at the last moment, like she was ducking a branch in her leisure time, and the arrow zipped over her head. She snapped around in the direction the arrow came from, searching for its source. In the doorway to the second room stood one of those odorous, decaying creatures Savannah had come to learn were called ‘Piriks’. This Pirik reloaded his bow.

He didn’t get a chance to complete the action. With unerring speed, Alexis sent a dagger his way. It impaled his throat and he vanished, the dagger dropping to the floor with a clunk.

Alexis strutted over to the doorway, her chin elevated. She picked the dagger up, and before entering the second room, nocked an arrow in her bow.

She kicked open the door and scanned this room too. It was clear to Savannah - without Elianna’s constant pointers - that Alexis was giving an excellent performance compared to what she had achieved.

Three Piriks came through the doorway and Alexis let the arrow loose, ducking behind the table before it landed. It hit the first Pirik in the bridge of his nose, causing him to evaporate. Alexis nocked another arrow, took a breath, and rose.

The arrow flew from her bow just as the second Pirik’s did the same. Alexis's arrow hit him in the chest, and she was quick enough to evade his own arrow. She sprang forward, leaped over the table, and met the third Pirik head-on.

The Pirik swung his hefty sword, going for her head. Alexis leaned back, avoiding the swing by millimetres. Before the Pirik could recover, Alexis darted forward and raked her dagger across his chest.

‘Damn… she’s even impressing me,’ Elianna said, eyebrow raised. ‘Shame you couldn’t even clear the second room, isn’t it, Savannah?’

Savannah narrowed her eyes. ‘Shut up, or I’ll chuck you in there. Maybe a nice electric shock will improve your personality. It’ll make my day to see you fry, either way.’

Elianna laughed. She pulled a dagger from her belt and picked out dirt from beneath her fingernails with its point. ‘That the best you got?’

Alexis entered the third room. In here was a wide, open space, into which ten Piriks (all with jagged, brutal swords) charged.

‘Oh, fuck,’ Alexis said. She let an arrow – which she’d had the sense to nock before entering the room, just like she had upon entering the previous room – loose which impaled the leading Pirik. Not giving the Piriks a second to recover, Alexis charged at them.

Three came forward. Alexis ducked beneath the swing of the first and threw this Pirik into the swipe of the second, flipping over his back before he disappeared. She stabbed the third in the side of the chest, before spinning with grace and speed and doing the same to the Pirik who’d sentenced his friend to eternal nothingness.

‘Yeah, suck on that, bitches,’ Alexis muttered, taking a moment of celebration.

She shouldn’t have. Another Pirik came forward and swung. His blade passed right through her and she dropped, twitching. The Pirik looked at his blade, confused, and the simulation faded.

‘Ah, hubris is a bitch,’ Elianna said with a smug smile.

*

Lauren and Savannah sat at the foot of Alexis's bed in the Healer’s Quarter. Elianna had left them to it. Not because she was busy - as she confessed herself, she simply didn’t want to be there.

‘Lauren, why’s Elianna here? Like, on Archaic. You said humans weren’t allowed here unless they have magic, and like, there’s a few that are here and don’t have magic. Elianna being one of them.’

‘Ah… that’s a long story. I don’t know, ten thousand years ago – roughly – humanity was split by The Seven. Some remained on Earth, some were moved to a planet called Vaella. Don’t know why, don’t know how it was decided who stayed and who migrated… it just happened. Regardless, Elianna’s not wholly human - there was interbreeding with the native Vaellans. Obviously, it was the only way the two races could live in perfect harmony. The Vaellan humans are, and always have been, more accepting of us, viewing us as saviours rather than a threat. So, we permit them to join us, and the Quarters have a presence there. On Earth, they have no presence, so, no members from there.’

‘Makes sense,’ Savannah said. She trailed off into thoughtful silence.

‘What is it?’

Savannah breathed out. She crossed her legs and shifted her arms, giving herself time to measure her response. ‘I don’t know. It’s all… I know we’ll all get through it, but… where do we go from here? I just want us to be safe. It’s been a while since... Theo died, and we still don’t know who killed him or Grandma, or whether they’re coming for us. What happens to us after we’ve found the killer? We continue in this world, with you guys, doing what? And what about Aaron? I… I don’t like him not being involved. Yes, it’s safer, but… it just doesn’t sit right. I’d prefer us to be together, the three of us.’

Lauren crossed her legs; her right foot jiggled. ‘You and your sister are welcome here as often and as long as you like. Think of us as a second home, a second family. You’re safe here. If there’s a threat, it’s a threat we take on together, all of us. You’re not alone here. You can flit between your human life and this, at least… for a long while. You’ll train, you’ll learn, you’ll grow… you can pick a Quarter if that’s what you want to do, or you can just live here and train, experience everything each Quarter has to offer. That’ll keep you busy. Should you choose to join a Quarter, you can take up contracts, missions and such with them. As for Aaron… don’t worry, you’re not leaving him. You’ll still see him all the time, you can still live that life, for a long time. He won’t know any different; one day he’ll have to, but we’ll hop that planet when we get to it.’

Savannah put her head in her hands and loosed a lengthy breath. ‘This is all so… vast… there’s so much to come to terms with and learn… I think… I think I will live my normal life as long as I can, but… what if all this comes between me and Aaron? Between Alexis and Aaron? What if… what if something happens to Alexis or me and he never finds out because we’re on another planet?’

Despite herself, Lauren chuckled. ‘Always the overthinker. Nothing will happen to either of you. You’re literally surrounded by the most powerful people in the universe. Trust me, you’re in more danger on Earth. But, in the unlikely event something was to happen to you or Alex, what do you think I’d do? Completely forget about you? Forget that maybe it’d be a good idea to make sure your brother knows and he’s not just left abandoned waiting for you to come home the rest of his life? You tit!’

Savannah raised her head and gave Lauren a half-smile. ‘Yeah, that’s fair, I hadn’t thought of that.’

A moment later, the smile was gone. ‘I want the killer found, Lauren. I don’t want revenge - I want the threat gone.’

‘We’ll find it. Or, it’ll find us. Either way, when it happens, they won’t know what’s hit them.’

Alexis stirred in the background.

*

Uninspired and possessing little in the way of an appetite, Bradshaw picked at the ham sandwich he’d bought for his lunch. He was consumed with the case – putting an innocent person through a trial was not something he was comfortable with under any circumstances, no matter how unsavoury that person was.

All he needed was a lucky break. Something, anything, to put him on the scent. A tiny slip-up, a minute piece of evidence… but nothing was coming up. He thought he’d had a lead, an ex-con who’d gone under the radar but lived in close proximity to the Glasco-Mason family, and had gone to school with Lyra… but he’d been in Berlin at the time of the murders.

The drum Robertson had been banging since day one - that Katerina’s murder was too clean - ate away at his gut, and despite the deficiency of evidence linking her murder to Theo’s… they were linked. With Jeremy’s trial looming, and the barristers of both the defence and prosecution believing it was an open-and-shut case… time was running out.

The office door opened and Robertson hurried in, her cheeks flushed.

‘What is it?’ Bradshaw asked, no life in his intonation.

‘We’ve had a tip-off,’ Robertson said in half a breath, moving to his desk and leaning over it. ‘Anonymous.’

Bradshaw’s back straightened. ‘Shit. What is it?’

‘The tip said a couple of days prior to the murder of Katerina, Jeremy and Savannah had an altercation. They argued and Jeremy attacked her with a knife. No serious lacerations except a slash to the cheek, but he went for her.’

Bradshaw frowned. ‘She said nothing violent ever happened between them.’

‘I know. Which means she lied to us right from the get-go. The tip also said that the two had a second physical confrontation that she initiated. Knives weren’t involved in that one, but there was some form of violence. The source didn’t know what, but assured me that they had come to blows.’

‘So… that would explain how someone got the knife with his fingerprints. All they’d have to do is gain access to the house - if they didn’t already have it - and take the knife Jeremy used to assault Savannah with.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Which means there’s a high chance we can prove he didn’t do this.’

Bradshaw stood quickly and whipped his jacket off the back of his seat, already moving for the door. ‘I hate working to prove that fucker’s innocence.’

*

Savannah, Lauren, and Alexis were back home before morning. Excitement pulsed through Alexis, and she went about her business getting ready for school with renewed vigour and a hyper demeanour, charging from place to place with a wide beam.

Savannah was subdued. Yes, it was exciting to her too that they were part of something massive and had unearthed awesome powers within themselves, but… a lot had transpired, and she found excitement, or any positive emotions for that matter, impossible to access, as though they were locked in a safe.

When Alexis was ready, she came into the living room to find Savannah and Lauren, who hadn’t bothered to change.

‘Why aren’t you dressed?’ Alexis said, her arms folded and nose turned up.

‘Because we’re not going in,’ Savannah said. ‘We might have been over there a few days, but here, mum only died yesterday. We’re not going to school. I spoke to the headteacher - he’s allowed us a leave of absence until after the Christmas holidays, given the circumstances.’

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Alexis groaned. ‘So you’re telling me I spent all that time getting dressed and it was completely fuckin’ pointless? You couldn’t have told me beforehand? What the-’

Alexis froze as a loud, fast rapping was made on the front door. Lauren took the opportunity to leave the room before Alexis could continue berating Savannah. She looked ready to continue, but Lauren was back in the room.

‘Erm, Savannah, the two detectives are here to see you.’

Lauren stood to one side to allow Bradshaw and Robertson through. Savannah moaned. ‘Oh, god, what do you two want?’

Bradshaw’s expression was one of compassion. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, and so early as well. Firstly, let me just say, I offer you my heartfelt condolences. I was… truly devastated to hear about your mother… she was a fantastic woman and a good friend to us. She’ll… be missed a great deal.’

Savannah fought back another onslaught of tears. This was one of the perks of not attending school - she was not going to be forced to deal with people telling her how sorry they were that her mother had died. It wasn’t what she needed to hear. They did so out of the goodness of their hearts, she was aware of that, but their well-wishes translated as a constant source of reminders that her mother was no longer with her.

‘Thank you. Without trying to be rude, I’ll ask you again, what do you want?’

The two detectives shared a furtive glance and sat down. Alexis did the same, seating herself next to Savannah, while Lauren remained standing at the doorway. ‘We want to ask you a few further questions. About your father.’

‘Oh, for god’s sake, what about him now? I’ve already answered everything I needed to answer about that tw-... m-my dad.’ Savannah stroked a strand of hair back behind her ear.

‘You did,’ Bradshaw said, tone hard. ‘But you lied to us, so, as a consequence, we now have further questions.’

Bollocks. ‘What do you mean, I lied to you?’

Robertson took over, leaning forward. ‘You lied to us when we asked whether your father had made any violent assaults towards you. We have since had an anonymous tip that reported the opposite. Now, I don’t need to tell you, considering that you’re the daughter of a successful lawyer, that lying to police and perverting the course of justice is a serious offence. I’m sure the event in question was highly traumatic for you but this is the sort of thing you need to tell us. So, I suggest you walk us through that night, unless you want to be charged. Given your age, I think we can let it slide this time, but do not pull this stunt again, girl.’

Savannah pulled at her ear. ‘Yeah, uh, sorry. I just… I didn’t see it as relevant at the time. And then… uh… you found the knife at grandma’s anyway so I thought… y’know… it wouldn’t be necessary.’

‘Well, it would have been. We’d have been able to look at your father sooner, without having to find the knife. Now, what happened?’

Savannah recounted the events of the night in detail - or, at least, what she could remember; the memory itself was hazy, like smoke. The more she tried to grab it, to examine it closer, to look at all the components and factors, the more it swam away from her.

Bradshaw nodded. His face was soft - unlike Robertson, who held an expression similar to Schofield in his bad moods - and he crouched in front of Savannah.

‘Thank you. My partner isn’t wrong, you have done something serious, but we can forget about it now. You’ve been through enough and… I understand why you kept that to yourself. In future, if there’s anything else, you must come forward - no matter how much you may not want to relive the events. Now, take care. Hopefully, in the kindest way possible, we’ll never have to see each other again.’

The detectives exited, leaving Savannah feeling even worse than she did beforehand.

Once they heard the front door shut, Alexis laughed. ‘Well, would you look at that? Getting in trouble with the police? Didn’t see that one coming for you, to be honest. Look, we all lie, and anyone who says otherwise is talking out their arse.’

‘Yeah, I suppose.’

Lauren turned the TV on and chucked an Xbox remote at Savannah, keeping one for herself. ‘Come on. We’ve got a while off school, and we can’t go back to Arc until tonight or Aaron might notice we’re missing. Let’s have a bit of a gaming day, for old time’s sake.’

Savannah smiled. ‘That sounds good.’

Alexis scoffed, rolled her eyes, and left the room. ‘Fuckin’ nerds.’

*

‘Was there any need to be so hard on her?’ Bradshaw asked, storming to his car. ‘She’s a kid and she’s been through enough, the last thing she needed was to be read the riot act.’

A grating laugh escaped Robertson. ‘Give over, Ryan. Liars boil my piss and she bare face lied to us. I don’t care how difficult it was for her, a lie is a lie. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. If she can comfortably lie right to our faces, what else has she been lying about? What other skeletons is she hiding in her closet?’

Bradshaw stopped before he opened the car door and stared at Robertson. ‘What do you mean? You don’t think…’

Robertson turned to him, her arms spread wide. ‘Yes, Ryan, I do! I do think she was involved! The extent to which, I don’t know. Motive? Don’t know. But, her daddy-o attacks her with a knife and that same knife is discovered as a murder weapon? I don’t know whether she did it, I don’t know how well she and her grandmother got on, but something about her doesn’t sit right with me. She might have known who did it and gave them the knife to frame Jeremy, killing two birds with one stone in the process.’

Bradshaw had to laugh, throwing his hands in the air. ‘You’re joking?! That’s a weaker case than Jeremy’s! There is no way that girl killed her grandmother or masterminded all of this. None whatsoever. There’s no motive, and no evidence against her! She has an alibi! She was at home the night of the murder.’

‘Can anyone verify that?’ Robertson snapped.

‘Yes, the whole family, minus Jeremy, was home! You’re wrong! We’ll continue looking at whoever would have been able to gain access to the house and acquire the knife, along with who would have known that Jeremy attacked Savannah.’

‘Surely, that would include Savannah? So we are going to investigate her?’

‘No, because there’s no case!’

‘Right, fine. Whatever. But she’s now on my list of suspects and if we miss anything, it’s on you. And if something comes up, I will not let you forget this.’

Robertson hurled herself into the car, slamming the door for good measure. Bradshaw groaned and joined her. She didn’t speak to him the whole way back to the station, nor for the subsequent two hours.

*

She knocked on the door of the small, dilapidated house and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her coat. It was late and chilly; her breath rose in pretty white clouds in front of her.

Her upper lip curled as she observed her surroundings. The garden was overgrown with weeds, multiple tiles were missing from the roof, the paint on the door and window sills was peeling away and left piles of white flecks on the floor like dandruff. The windows themselves were grimy, coated in black mould.

A light clicked on in the hallway and the door opened, revealing a small, dumpy woman with nicotine-stained fingers and more grey hairs than teeth.

‘’Oo are you?’ the woman croaked, looking her up and down with bulging fish eyes.

She smiled, ensuring she exposed her own immaculate, shiny, white teeth. ‘Hi, I’m looking for Jason. I’m a friend of his from school.’

The woman’s mouth broke into a grin. It wasn’t a pleasant sight and she had to resist the urge to squirm backwards. Her breath reeked of stale tobacco. ‘Ah, you’re a pretty one, in’t ya? E’s done well with you, m’boy ‘as. I’ll jus’ go n’ get ‘im.’ The woman shuffled off upstairs.

She bit back a torrent of vomit. As if she’d ever associate with anyone from beginnings such as this? Humans made her want to gouge her own eyeballs out with a spoon.

A moment later, the woman came back down the stairs, her son in tow. He eyed her with caution like his mother had. However, although he had no idea who she was, he didn’t expose her. Probably out of hope that his dream girl had come to rescue him from this pit. The only way that would be the case would be if she were to put him in another pit. Six feet under.

‘Mam, would you give us some space, please?’

His mother giggled, then coughed up some phlegm. When she regained her composure, she said, ‘ooh, course I will.’ She gave them both a horrifying wink.

Once she was gone, Jason turned to her. ‘Who are you and what do you want?’

‘I’m a… friend of Aaron’s. I have… I have a gift for him, but I don’t want him to know I got it for him. It’s… a surprise, of sorts.’

She pulled out a small, clear baggie filled with white powder. ‘Now, do not take any of this yourself. It’s for Aaron alone.’

He snorted. ‘Why would I do that for you? What’s in it for me?’

She sighed and reached into her coat pocket. When her hand re-emerged, it was holding a fat wad of cash, which she handed to Jason. ‘10 racks. Right there. I’m sure that’s more than enough for you to buy yourself some high-quality… gear, correct?’

His mouth widened. ‘Jesus, who are you? I mean, thanks, like, but how do you have that much money?’

She tilted her head. ‘I’m rich. That’s all you need to know. So… will you do that for me, then?’

He nodded like a child when offered sweets. ‘Yeah, course I will. Thanks a lot, I guess.’

She turned and headed back up the path, a wide grin spreading. ‘No, thank you.’

*

Savannah and Lauren gamed all day, breaking only for meals. Alexis flitted in and out - sometimes she’d come into the living room to judge Savannah and Lauren’s use of the day, other times she’d enter and chat for a while, before disappearing without a word whenever she got bored.

As the afternoon drew to a close, the walking zombie himself, Aaron, got out of bed and entered the living room. He was sullen, grey, and moved like he only had one functioning leg. ‘My head hurts,’ he whined, sinking onto the sofa.

Savannah looked up from the TV. ‘That’s what you get for getting wasted, isn’t it? Hangovers don’t make it worth it, do they?’

Aaron made a scratchy growl in his throat. ‘Shut up. On that note,’ he righted himself, groaning like a man fifty years his senior. ‘I’m going to Jason’s tonight. Just need to eat something quickly and have a shower.’

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, look at you now, you’re hungover as hell. Wouldn’t it be better to nap?’

Aaron grinned, then grimaced, the first action hurting his head. ‘The best way to cure a hangover is to get wasted again.’

Savannah rolled her eyes. ‘If you say so… I mean, it’s your choice. I hope you have a good time. Just… stay safe and don’t get into a state. I worry about you, y’know.’

Aaron waved his hand. ‘Do you? I’ll be fine, I am fine.’

*

Aaron arrived at Jason’s two hours later. The walk down that massive hill had nearly killed him, but it was worth it. God, he’d lost all physical capability over the past two months. He’d sort it out after Christmas.

Aaron greeted Jason’s mum politely as usual - he had told neither Jason nor his mother about Lyra, and he had no intention to. The story hadn’t broken into the news (yet) so for now, he preferred to keep it to himself. He hadn’t come here to have a deep, meaningful chat. He’d come to bury his heart, not bare it.

Aaron sat on Jason’s bed, smoking a joint out of the window. Trap music played in the background and the two scrolled through their phones. Before Aaron had finished the joint, Jason jumped up and went to his chest of drawers in the corner.

‘You ready to get on the proper stuff now?’ Jason asked, grinning. In his hand were two baggies of white powder.

Aaron’s eyes widened. ‘Ooooh. What’s them, then?’

Jason looked at the baggies and shrugged. ‘Dunno. Dealer said it’s good shit. Want to give it a go?’

Aaron grinned. ‘Sure, why not?’

*

Bradshaw’s desk phone rang. ‘Hello?’

The person on the other end gave deep, rasping breaths.

‘Who is this?’

The voice that replied was distorted. ‘I gave you the tip about Savannah. I have more information.’

‘Why the voice distorter?’

The voice chuckled. It was guttural. ‘This isn’t a voice distorter. Obtain a search warrant to the Glasco-Mason residence. Do you need more evidence to enable you to make your case? The evidence is there. You just have to look.’

The caller disconnected.

‘Trish,’ Bradshaw called over to Robertson. ‘We need a search warrant.’

*

Aaron neatened the line up with his bank card. It was a new card that had been used more for this purpose than actual bank transactions.

He leaned over and inhaled the substance. Jason, not wanting to be left out, snorted his own concurrently.

Aaron waited for a few minutes. ‘Nothing’s happening, man. I thought you said this was good shit?’

Jason, who’d been lying down on his bed, pushed himself up on his elbows. His eyes were glazed and he wore a stupid, toothy grin. ‘That’s bad luck, bro. I’m having the trip of my life. Wh-wh-why do you have six faces?’

Aaron snorted. ‘Fucksake.’

Aaron’s heart rate crept up. Still, he felt no different. There was no buzz, no warm feeling, no distortion of his senses. He’d had trips like this before - they took longer to kick in, but they were wild when they did.

Aaron’s breathing became slower and more measured. The pain in his head intensified, coming with a tight pressure, like he was being crushed between two cars.

His slow breathing became shallow and rasping. He could hear the blood rushing through his veins. His heart was pounding, its beating uneven. His sight switched in and out of focus and darkened at the sides.

His temples expanded and contracted. His gaze faded to black, but he retained consciousness. His heart felt like it was about to explode. Then, the adrenaline began to kick in, and the pain was numbed. His brain became loud - screaming at him, get this out of your system, now!

It was overreacting. He felt fine. He had a buzz on, and the adrenaline was providing him with an even more intense kick.

Aaron’s brain silenced. He slipped from consciousness. His temples ceased to pulse, his heart stopped pumping and his body moved its last.

Aaron Glasco-Mason lay on the bed, frothing at the mouth. Jason attempted to bring him back to the light while his panic-stricken mother called for an ambulance.

Their efforts were futile. Aaron would not wake, whether through the efforts of Jason or the paramedics. His time on Earth was at a premature end.

When the ambulance arrived, a figure stood motionless at the end of the street, obscured from the view of all, dressed in a full-body black coat with a hood pulled up and hanging low over their brow.

Aaron’s lifeless body was pulled out of the house and into the ambulance on a stretcher.

The solitary visible feature of the figure was their ruby lips on chalk-white skin. They twisted up into a callous, cold smirk.