"You're mad, you are."
"Oi," I snapped. "Shut it. I'm not mad." She gave me a disbelieving look. "Tully! I'm not mad. I'm not. I just - look, can you just help me here?"
"You're asking me to help you find a blue box in Bristol. No other details, just 'find me the blue box'. Addi, that sounds so insane. Not to mention your, you know, oddness after that whole affair last year. The missing night? Remember?" She twisted an elastic around her sleek black hair, eyebrows still raised in an almost mocking expression. Tully Costello had been my best friend for the past six years; the first day of school had not been a pleasant experience for either of us. But we'd stuck together and somehow made it work, her the insufferable genius and me nothing more than the idiot sidekick.
"No, Tully, I don't remember! That's the point, I don't remember. I need the blue box. I'll remember if you can get me the blue box. Please," I pleaded, clasping my hands dramatically and pouting. "For me, genius girl?"
"I'm not a genius. Stop saying that, you know it isn't true, and what's more you can't keep saying all this rubbish about...fine. I'll find your blue box." She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, rubbing her eyes wearily. She had been up all night studying again, working as hard as she could to get into medical school. Fortunately for me she was also a whiz with people and computers, and combining those two talents meant she could find out just about anything from anyone in the city. That included the location of the blue box.
"Thank you so much. I'll be out looking for it, text me when you find it?"
"Yes, yes fine. Alright. Go on then." Tully laughed and shook her head, sighing exasperatedly and returning to her laptop screen.
"I love you!" I grinned at her, turning to go. She called for me to wait, the smile dropping from her face and her tone deadly serious.
"Addison. If you find the box...just be careful."
"Am I ever not?"
" Perpetually miserable with no sense of self-preservation, sound familiar?"
"What's perpetual mean?"
"Just go. Don't get stabbed or anything, I'm not picking you up from the emergency room again."
I strolled through the streets, trying to look casual while still keeping my eyes peeled for any sign, but it was hard to look casual when I felt so full of purpose. I started where we'd been the night before, watching carefully. There was a burst of noise from my shirt pocket and I pulled out the phone, grinning as I read the message. Not really much of a message - nothing more than a street name, signed off with a kiss. "Tallulah Costello, you are a saint."
I started off in a brisk walk before breaking into a jog. I wasn't too far and I could feel it again, that feeling of almost being there, almost knowing the answer. The noise ran through my head, almost comforting now. Something I'd come to rely on. I started to run. I was close, so close, and then -
Something knocked into my body and sent me flying. Or, more accurately, someone. We got up together, stumbling and confused. I stood straight, glaring, touching the cut on my forehead. It seemed to have reopened. "Watch where you're going!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you-" He froze, looking me up and down. "I'm...sorry. I have to go."
He took off in the opposite direction, jacket flapping behind him. I stared after him, recognising the voice but unable to place it. I kneeled and grabbed something off the ground - a silver device roughly the size of a water bottle. "Hey!" I called after the retreating figure. "You dropped your thingy!"
Either he didn't hear me or chose to ignore my voice, because he kept running. I pocketed the silver thing and started to walk away, not realising I was going in the wrong direction until I heard it again. The noise, clear as day, somewhere nearby. Somewhere behind me. But by the time I'd sprinted back to the right street, the noise was gone.
And that's when I realised why I recognised his voice.
