Chapter Seven

"F i n a l l y." Ducky Said, sitting next to me so our knees brushed. He sounded annoyed but I could detect excitement in his voice. Harlow sat on the other side of me so we were a triangle.

"How should we do this?" Ducky glanced between us. I shrugged.

"Lee said that it might not work, but maybe we should conjure the image of what happened in it heads to try and get the adrenaline pumping?"

A thought sprung to my mind. "How do you know Lee, by the way. You two seem close but I wouldn't imagine you mixing." Lee was a jock, and Harlow was a quiet... I didn't want to say nerd.

"Oh," she waved the question away, her eyes shifting from me to Ducky, then back again. "Didn't I tell you? He's my adopted brother."

"Oh, cool." I didn't know what else to say. I held onto Ducky and Harlow's hands, my palm slightly sweaty. "We should do this, then?"

"Right." Ducky drew out a long breath. "Yesterday. It was cloudy, and humid. We were outside the hall and heard this low pitched quiet-"

"In your head, please." Harlow objected. Ducky muttered a quick sorry, and we all closed our eyes.

I forced my chest to rise and fall slower, and my heart rate seemed to slow slightly. Just like the first time, a quiet ringing filled my ears, and my eye twitched. I cast my mind back to yesterday, and remembered the angry glint in Scarlett's eye. The rush of adrenaline and the angry flush of my cheeks. The withdrawn look on Gabriel's face. The soft mud under my boots and the taste of the air in my mouth. The frown my face was set into, then, I imagined the energy flowing into me again. Two points, but this time they were hot and sweaty, and at my palms, not my shoulders. It's working! I though excitedly, and fleetness set in my chest.

Suddenly, a loud crack sounded above us, and my eyes snapped open to suddenly I felt like my eyes were going to pop open. My neck whipped back so quick I felt a tendon strain and pain shoot through my neck, but that wasn't my main priority. The lights above us were bending at an alarming rate. My eyes widened as one of the spot lights broke off and came hurtling towards us.

Harlow let our a scream as gravity did its work and it fell right down, fast. Icy strands off dear shot down my arms, but I also still heard the buzz of energy. I closed my eyes and hoped that the forcefield would do its thing now, or we'd be gonners. However, after a tense, brittle moment of silence, mym eyes fluttered open, and I looked up. The light was floating, about a foot above my head, and what looked like crystal was circling the three of us.

"What the heckity-heck?" Ducky breathed. My heart felt like it was going to break out of my rib cage.

"Aidan," Harlow's voice was wondrous. "I have an idea. Slide your hand up to my shoulder. Don't break contact."

"Okay..." I shuffled, so I was still holding onto Ducky but slid my hand up to I was lightly touching her shoulder.

She smiled and brought her hand that was now free up towards the crystal thing and pressed onto it. The fallen light immediately withdrew like a magnet when it touches its opposite side. It floated up and re-fixed itself onto the bar, which itself straightened up. It was like it was happening in backwards motion. When all was still, I broke my hands from Harlow and Ducky's and i immediately jerked away in an undignified backwards roley-poley.

"Woah." I ran a hand through my wild tangled hair and looked back towards Harlow and Ducky. I rose shakily to my feet. I felt drained, exhausted.

"What the fuck?" Ducky said, getting up too. His legs were shaky.

All of a sudden, my chest felt too tight, and the big spacious building felt enclosing. I took a deep breath, expanding my lungs too far, when they started to ache, I released the air.

"I don't know. I mean, I thought about stopping the light and it kinda... just did. If that makes sense." Harlow said, leaning over the side to grab her cardigan and slid it over her shoulders.

I exchanged a glance with Ducky. He shrugged. "Not really, to be honest." He said.

Her eyes flashed excitedly. "I can't wait to tell Lee what happened."

I nodded and grabbed my bag. "Next time let's not do it inside." I pulled it onto my shoulders and checked my watch. "The bell's about to go. Don't all three of us have English together?" I slid off the stage and up the slight incline towards the stairs.

Ducky groaned. "Yeah. You better watch out. Miss Utting is a witch."

"Literally - like us or-"

"No, no!" Ducky said hurriedly. "Like the witch from a fairy tale."

I swung my head back and let out a light laugh. "Yeah." Harlow pushed open the door as we made it to the stop of the hill, and light streamed into the room.

I followed Harlow into the dirty corridor, and back to the real world. A few people spared us a glance as we came out, but I don't think anyone payed any head of why we were in there.

"I need to go to my locker, wanna come with?" Harlow said, and I nodded, watching her expertly weave through the incoming traffic of people pushing and shoving to try and head wherever they were going.

"That was so cool." I rambled, wacking my hand through the air to try and express myself. Harlow hid a smile as she opened her locker, pulling out An Inspector Calls, in all it's boring glory.

"We should try again tomorrow. Maybe with Lee..." Ducky trailed off as Scarlett, Gabriel and who I think is Summer pace down the hall, heading straight towards us.

They were travelling in a triangle, with Scarlett at the head, walking in sync and everything. It's funny to imagine that they've spent ages trying to master this strut. I hoped one of them fell into the bin beside them. I would pay lot to see Scarlett fall head first into bin. I locked eyes with Scarlett

"Shit." I muttered. Harlow clutched the book closer to her chest, as if it were her shield and Scarlett was the bomb.

"Try what tomorrow?" She coos, twiddling a strand of hair around her perfectly manicured finger. Her nails were bright red and extremely long. Fake. Cough cough.

We're screwed. I exchanged a long glance with Gabriel, his silver orbs suddenly captivating, but my mind was racing a thousand miles per hour. I need an excuse.

"Uhm - fish egg sushi." I blurted suddenly. Scarlett turned towards me and pulled a disgusted face, but still managed to look elegant.

"What." Her words were crisp and precise.

"Fish egg sushi." I repeated, and cleared my throat to give me more time. "Cassius here-"

"Ducky." He said quietly so only I could hear, but I ignored him like the little hitch that I am.

"- wanted to know if fish egg sushi was nice. I said no but Harlow..."

"Said it was," she caught on fast, breaking my eye contact either her and drawing in a shaky breath. "It's called Caviar Sushi and its good for people on diets. Low on carbs, but very salty. You have to have exactly the right taste for it." She covered her mouth with her hand suddenly as if she realised what she had said.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "You were excited to try... sushi."

"Yep." I popped the 'p', daringly turning to face Gabriel. "Problem?"

"Nope." He popped his 'p' as well, and we remained staring at each other. I definitely didn't want to show weakness and break eye contact with this weirdo first.

"Lets just get away from these losers." Summer scrunched her nose. "I can almost smell the fish."

Summer and Scarlett were both what someone would class as "popular", both wore too much makeup and both were on the cheerleading team. Imagine it like this, Summer was the flyer, getting thrown in the air and having all the attention on her, but Scarlett was like the base, having to remain there or the whole tower falls, and never being replaced or in danger of injury, unlike the flyer.

It was an interesting social phenomenon to watch, to say the least.

I watched them steadily walk away, my stomach churning uncomfortably. Suddenly, Ducky leant down and whispered in my ear; "I have a feeling that on Wednesdays they wear pink."

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