The Titan Code

2. A Bag of Tricks

SINCE being woken up early I spent all day feeling like I was catching up; I barely had time for lunch but whenever my attention wasn't focused my mind wandered back to Prague. The atmosphere was incredible and I really wished for more time, which is a most unusual wish because really I find travelling extremely tedious more often than not.

In the margins of my desk diary I traced the little symbols and shapes that were displayed on the face of the Astronomical Clock.

"What a night," I sigh in reflection.

"Why, what happened?"

Karen's unexpected voice from behind made me jump in fright.

"Bloody hell, Karen!" I exclaim, clutching at my chest like a mortified widow at a funeral.

"So, what happened last night?" she presses. "Don't tell me you were out?"

Karen raises her thin eyebrows comically high, her vaguely wrinkled mouth puckered into an 'O' shape. I snort and shake my head.

"Not a chance, you know me- asleep by ten o'clock," I reply dismissively. "No, I just had the most vivid dream and it woke me up. Feels like I was living it."

"I wish I could live my dreams, especially the ones with George Clooney!" Karen jokes. I laugh obligingly.

"Anyway, Ella, I need you to follow up on those Confidential Destruction Packs for me and raise a Purchase Order for the Environmental Consultant's expenses, okay?"

As Karen leaves I run my fingers through my glossy, brown hair uncomfortably. I hate lying to people but it's a necessary evil.

To explain why I rarely go out on staff outings, parties or late-night events I tell people I'm anaemic and genuinely exhausted by nine or ten o'clock in the evening. Initially most people thought it's a joke or suggested a few Red Bulls, but after always declining invitations and sticking to my story eventually they believed me. A little ridicule certainly paid off.

I prefer to be home with plenty of time before I travel. It really is extremely restrictive having to stop everything so that I'm prepared for quarter to twelve every night but it's better to avoid awkward situations. Okay, it's not every single night I travel but sometimes I'll have a few nights in a row, or maybe twice a week. There's no pattern that I can tell and the last thing I want is to cause alarm by vanishing after an ill-timed trip to a pub toilet; down a side-street after being separated by only a few seconds from the group; in my mother's living room; in a club.

Not that I ever fade out in front of people, I found that out fairly early on after starting with my "gift" at eighteen that it didn't happen in the presence of other people. It's great for a touch of respite but there are consequences. Every time I miss a night I get a headache the next day which won't lift with medication. The more nights I miss the worse the headaches become. My personal record was four days in a row and by the fifth day the pain was so excruciating it made me vomit and I couldn't get out of bed.

I used to experiment as a teenager seeing how many nights in a row I could stay out and, even though I don't travel daily as soon as I missed one the trouble began.

It feels like my body needs to travel or it starts protesting.

Like somehow it's woven into my being so intrinsically that they can't be separated.

*

My flat is cosily decorated and very comfortable. Being located out of the city increases the affordable size somewhat and I'm perfectly happy in my little home. Tonight I cleaned up after my dinner, vacuumed, sorted a pile of laundry and had a shower. Exciting stuff.