ENSHROUDING LIGHT

THE MEMORY

CHAPTER 21

THE MEMORY

Jack darted to the side, tucked something short under his jumper and chased after her. 'What the fuck's going on?'

'I've wanted to tell you for ages,' she said, as she marched past the state park. 'Ethan is not what you think. He's got an army.'

'What you on about?' he asked as she ran across the road onto Shuedhill.

'Excuse me,' called a vagabond, sat in an alcove of a building. 'Have you got any spare change?'

'No, mate, sorry,' Jack said. 'But if you need a meal or a place to stay, you can go to the Garden of Need at the back of the state park.'

'Garden of Need, my arse. Theres no such place.' The man spat at Jack and batted his hand.

'Charming.' Jack ran to catch up with Nevaeh as she ran through the bus station. 'What you on about, army?'

'He's got an army of men who want to kill Tom.'

'Are you wasted?'

'No, I'm not wasted,' she said, running across the road. 'They wear coats like the one Luke was wearing that time when he was outside mine.'

'Luke?'

'Yeah,' she said, entering the back walkway of Printworks. 'They took him.'

'Took him how?'

'Ethan,' she said, rushing passed a crowd queuing for the cinema. 'Come on. I'm gonna show you where they are.'

He shook his head and pulled her arm. 'What's going on?'

She span round and yanked her arm free. 'You need to help me stop Ethan. He's got—'

A hand gripped her shoulder from behind. 'Hi.'

She turned to find Mark, stood with a pleasant smile. Winston was by his side, biting his nails.

'Where did you two spring from?' Jack said.

'We were looking for you,' Mark said. 'You have an emergency at the gym. The squatters are back. Probably because you left it unattended.'

'What?'

'We need to get back, man!' Winston looked at the floor.

'But Nev needs—'

'Nev needs to be put straight,' Mark said. 'She's got a few things mixed up in her mind.'

'Man, seriously, we got to go!'

Jack looked at Nev, confusion plastered across his face. 'I'll talk to you later, yeah?'

'Hmmm.'

She watched him run back up the indoor street with Winston, and turned to Mark. 'Think you're clever?'

'No. But you need to be. So, if you won't listen to why you can't kill him now, and can't understand why you need to keep Jack safe, then I'll have to show you!'

'Show me what?'

'What happened to me!' Mark pulled her into a bar. They walked to the back, and he guided her into the disabled toilets and locked the door.

'What are you doing? Who's got Tom?'

He looked at her with a maddening, painful sadness that sent a chill down her spine, and held his hand out towards her. 'Adaeze's taking the class.'

She furrowed her eyebrows at him.

'It's alright.' His soothing voice filled her senses with warmth. She took his hands and looked deep into his eyes. As she watched the steel-blue begin to sparkle, shivers rushed down her spine. 'I'll be here the whole time. You're going to see a memory. It will feel like you're actually there, but nothing can happen to you. You're safe.'