Elevatia

5. Caught short

I was quiet all throughout dinner and the next morning, secrets weighing heavily on me. At breakfast, Professor Granton gave an announcement about the upcoming basketball match against the High Class. Jayla and Munk chatted about it together. Chip looked over at me questioningly.

"No, my parents weren't murdered by Vyle," I blurted out, "Why would you think that Chip? Hahaha."

"I asked you to pass the salt," Chip said concerned. "Kit, are you okay?"

"I have to go." I said.

I ran out the food hall as fast as I could.

I was sitting in my bed under a blanket when Chip and Jayla came to find me half an hour later.

"Kit," Jayla said gently placing a hand on my shoulder through the blanket, "You can tell us anything."

"Was it something the hooded figure said?" Chip asked astutely.

"His name is Galbrathian." I said taking the blanket off. "He knew my parents. He told me about then and about... me."

Chip and Jayla shared a look.

"I have to go." I said.

I ran out the bedroom as fast as I could.

I was in the exercise room practising kickboxing on a stuffed dummy when Chip and Jayla came to find me fifteen minutes later.

"Kit," Jayla said gently holding the dummy so I could practice my uppercut, "there must be a lot to process hearing about your parents for the first time."

"Take all the time you need," Chip said lining up more dummies for me to drop-kick.

"My parents were murdered by Vyle." I said demolishing the row of dummies ferociously. "And Galbrathian said more about the power that I inherited from them."

Chip and Jayla shared a glance.

"I have to go." I said.

I ran out the exercise room as fast as I could.

I was in the reflection hall meditating in the lotus position when Chip and Jayla came to find me five minutes later.

"Kit," Jayla said gently as she balanced on one leg in the tree pose "you've always been my best friend and I trust you."

"We know there's something special about you," Chip said putting one leg behind his head.

"I might be the only one who can overthrow Miles Vyle because of my special power." I said as I struck a meditation gong. "Galbrathian has kept it a secret all these years."

Chip and Jayla shared a sandwich.

"I have to-" I began.

"Kit, stop." Jayla began before I could run over to the cinema. "We'll say it so you don't have to. The special power you have. You are..."

"Go on"

"You're a vampire." Jayla finished.

"Oh. No, it's not that actually." I said.

"Wizard?" Chip suggested

"Nope."

"Werewolf?" Jayla offered. "Jedi?"

"Can you stop time?" Chip ventured. "Read minds?"

"No." I swallowed nervously. "I can... change my height."

Chip and Jayla staggered backwards in shock and admiration at my news.

"I think this regime is evil," I said as we walked out the reflection room together into the courtyard to find the rest of our friends. "I think I want to do something. But it would be dangerous. I have this power. Does that mean I have to use it? Is it my destiny?"

"Whatever you decide, we'll follow you." Jayla said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Me too," Chip confirmed, placing a hand on my other shoulder.

"Also me," Munk said, popping up behind us and placing a hand on my head.

"Count me in too," Sky said, placing a hand on my right shin.

"So... what are we going to follow you doing?" Munk asked.

"Um, I haven't decided yet." I admitted.

The courtyard was bustling with people. Some in their lime green tracksuits relaxing and chatting on the benches. A couple of Lowlies sweeping up and tending to the potted plants. Some teachers passed by, their long robes brushing their ankles, Professor Granton among them. He stumbled a little as he crossed the lawn.

"Aha!" yelled an Upright springing out of a pot plant inside which she had been hiding. "You with the suspiciously long robe. Show me your shoes."

Everyone in the courtyard fell silent as they watched the scene unfold.

"Me?" squeaked Professor Granton, falling over in terror. "Just regulation shoes, normal soles I swear."

"Show me those shoes," snarled the Upright. She was dressed in slightly muddy white uniform with a pot plant attached to the helmet. She strode over to the prone teacher and yanked the robe up to his ankles revealing his shoes, whilst he whimpered.

"Platforms," she hissed violently.

There was a horrified intake of breath from all the onlookers.

"8 inches. This is a code 5 Cruise violation. Masquerading as Medium. Pathetic. You sir have been caught short."

"No please! Please!" sobbed Professor Granton.

But it was no use. Four more Upright appeared, vaulting out of other pot plants or abseiling down from walls where they had been disguised as gargoyles.

"Tell Martha I love her!" cried Professor Granton as he was hauled out of the courtyard.

There was silence in the courtyard again. Then the Lowlies began to start sweeping again. I caught the eye of one of the Lowlies for a moment. With a shock I suddenly recognised him as Flynn, the boy I'd spoken to at the Sizing. He gave me a look of misery that chilled me more than an ice bath with a polar bear in a snowstorm, then went back to sweeping.

I clenched my jaw. "I'm going to talk to Galbrathian."

I found Galbrathian lurking in the shadows of the Library again.

"This place is terrible," I said. "But what makes you so sure I'm your friends' child, that I could be the one to stop Vyle?"

"Your mother had a birthmark," he said quietly. "On her left shoulder. You have it too. I saw it when you were wearing the traditional Sizing outfit – those short-sleeved dungarees. It was how I knew I'd finally found you."

He pointed to the wall where there was an old framed photo amongst other artefacts of the Uprising. The photo was labelled "Vyle's early circle". Miles was in the centre of group photo. In the rows I could see the Chief Upright was there and Galbrathian too. And a woman with short brown hair and a heart shaped birthmark clearly visible on her left shoulder. Transfixed I pulled up the sleeve of my green tracksuit, where I had a matching mark.

"That's my mother," I whispered softly. I touched her face in the photo with the tip of my finger. Could I really finish what she had started?

Galbrathian walked up behind me.

"She once told me she had a dream," he murmured. "She walking through the streets of a white city up to the edge of the water. In that dream she felt deep in her bones that there was someone who could walk across the water and bring the palace crumbling down. She knew her daughter would be the one."

I stared at him.

"I'm in."