Chapter Eight
By Tallulah
Mew scrabbled at the garage door, yelping as the rain oozed through her dress and down her back. It had seeped into her skates too, and her stocking toes were warm and slimy.
But in a way the rain was good because it helped her not to think about what the other GGs would say when they saw her again.
"Come on…" Tab shifted from foot to foot behind her, sending drips over her clothes. "What if he's –"
"He won't be." She spat rain as she spoke. The air was damp and warm. It smelt of mould. Come on."
She shoved the door open, and scurried into the dry, cold air of the garage. It was dark except for the shadows twisting across the floor from the clouds outside.
"What are you doing here, bitch?"
Gum, face and dress glowing white in the darkness, charged towards her and shoved her backwards.
"I thought I told you to stay out –"
Gum's eyes were red; her fists were clenched; her voice was shaking.
"Gum, listen –"
"I said shut up! Get out!"
"Gum."
Tab had crept in after Mew, and stood next to her now. "Listen."
"What – Tab, she – she –"
"Exactly. She ain't done nothing. It's Cube who hurt Beat. How is he?"
"He's in hospital, having himself stitched up," Gum growled. "But it can't be Cube – she wouldn't do that – she wouldn't –"
"And Mew would?"
"She's done it before." Garam's voice echoed over from the battered GG car. He sat on top of it, where Yo-Yo had once perched, his goggles glinting in the sudden flicker of lightning outside the window.
"That's what we need to explain," Mew said. "You guys have to listen. It's the monster –"
"Not fucking funny," Garam snapped. "Get it, Mew? Not funny at all. Yo-Yo is dead, Beat's hurt, this is real life, not a fairy tale."
"Don't be too hard on her," Slate said. "Killer – too crazy to know the difference."
Mew gasped, and then she felt Tab's rain-spattered, warm hand grip hers. She squeezed it back, and that helped her stay calm.
"Look," she said, "even if I had done it, then how likely is it Cube tries to do the same thing, huh? Two of us going psycho at the same time?"
"Oh, sure, you're lying, it was you, you set Cube up or something," Gum snarled.
"I wasn't even there! And Beat saw her do it, didn't he? He wouldn't have made that sort of thing up!"
"Well, I didn't see her do it!" Gum screamed. "But you killed Yo-Yo! And whatever the hell happened, you're not a GG, so get out of here!"
"I agree with Mew."
That was Piranha. She stood up, and sauntered over to them.
"What?" Gum said.
"I agree with Mew. It's stupid to think she and Cube are both closet psychos, specially as they ain't never done nothing like that before. So something else must be going on, huh, Mew-chan?"
"Yeah," Tab said. "I don't know it what it is, but she does."
"You're both nuts," Garam snapped. "She killed Yo-Yo. That mean anything to you?"
"Yeah," Slate said. "This is another trick."
"I think we should listen to her, Nose Man!" Piranha marched forward. "Why don't you just think a bit? Cube and Mew are our friends, they wouldn't do stuff like this so something must be wrong –"
"Maybe they're in it together –" Gum yelled.
"Yo-Yo would listen to her! He was always smart deep down!"
"You shut the hell up about him!" Garam leapt down from the car and landed heavily as the lightning blinked again. "He wouldn't want to listen to the bitch who killed him!"
"Guys!" Tab yelled above the shouting.
"What?" Gum demanded.
"Why don't we wait till Beat gets back. Then he can decide, he's the leader and he was actually hurt. Okay?"
The others considered this a few minutes, then Gum scowled. "All right. But Mew's gonna stay right here, where we can see her. Okay?"
"Sure." Mew sat down where she was, shuddering as her soaked skirt tightened round her legs. Garam glared at her before clambering back up onto the car again, and resting his head on his knees. Slate turned back to the pinball machine and started another game. Piranha sat down on the floor too, and started moving her head in time to Miller Ball Breakers. The music rang out, dark, heavy, singing of parties and nights which were never truly black.
Gum stayed, staring at Mew, her white shoulders trembling.
Tab sat down next to Mew, and whispered, "Well, that could've been worse."
"You mean they didn't burn me at the stake?"
Tab grinned, and hugged her a moment. Mew wanted to snuggle up to him, but she didn't quite dare. He probably wasn't interested in her that way. Besides, they had more important things to think about.
They waited for about an hour. An hour of faint music. An hour of pinball bleeping. An hour of eyes watching her from the dark. An hour of thunder, lightning, rattling rain.
The storm was quietening down when the door opened and Beat and Combo walked in. Beat's arm was bandaged.
"What – Mew?" Beat frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"Go on, hat-boy," Slate said. "Make your excuses."
Tab squeezed Mew's hand again, and got to his feet. "Beat. You okay?"
"Yeah. Come on. What's she doing here?"
"We heard what Cube did. We figured something bad's going down, and we thought you guys needed to hear what Mew's got to say."
Beat shrugged. "Hate to say this, Tabster, but Mew ain't exactly the most innocent person around."
"Nor's Cube, now. Come on, Beat, you know both of 'em, how likely is it they'd both go nuts?"
Beat stared at Mew, frowning, and she forced herself to meet his eyes. She wasn't guilty, she wasn't. And she'd show him she wasn't.
"All right," he said. "What've you got to say?"
Mew explained everything that had happened. The rain faded as she spoke, and by the time she had finished, it had gone, and the night was smooth and silent, and the streetlights glowed in the raindrops on the window.
"…and I reckon that's what happened to Cube," she said at last. "The music…took her over."
She stopped, suddenly aware of how dry her throat was, and stared round at the other GGs.
Beat looked thoughtful. Gum was scowling. Garam was slumped on the car, his goggles hiding his expression. Slate was playing pinball like she wasn't even there. Piranha was leaning forward, elbows resting on her knees. Combo was looking down at them from under his hat, his face hidden by its shadows. And Tab, next to her, was looking nervous, but he grinned when their eyes met, and whispered, "Good job."
"Well?" Beat said. "That's it?"
"Uh-huh."
Gum said, "That is the biggest load of –"
"Shut up," Combo growled, and they all glanced at him, because he hadn't said a word so far.
"Make me," Gum said, glaring up at him. "Just cos you're big don't mean I'll sit back and take it."
"Mew's right," Combo said.
"Like hell she is. Monsters don't exist –"
"Cube wouldn'ta done something like that," Combo said. "I can't see any reason why she would. But Beat ain't no liar. And I reckon the kitten's story fits."
"Monsters?" Garam said. "You believe in them still?"
"I can tell a liar," Combo said. "And Mew weren't lying just then. And I know Cube wouldn't do nothing like this. I known her since she was tagging with crayons. And what the hell. Even if Mew ain't got it all right, her story's a damn sight nearer to the truth than anything else. So I say we listen to her."
"Okay, fine," Slate said, not turning from the pinball table, its flickers sparking round his silhouette. "So we believe her. Then what do we do?"
"We gotta tell K to stop playing that music," Beat said. "If it can possess people –"
"But it didn't possess anyone the first time we heard it," Gum said. "Remember? Cube and Mew listened to it all the way through, and – oh – shit –"
"I reckon," Mew said, "I reckon you have to hear it once, and then the next time you hear it, it can get you proper."
"So we do need to talk to K somehow," Beat said.
"You don't think that'll be enough, do you?" Tab said.
Beat shrugged, "No, I don't, but what else can we do? Go out and hunt this thing down ourselves? If a rudie with a scythe couldn't take it down, then who could?"
"Maybe no one could," muttered Gum. "Because it doesn't exist –"
Piranha glared at her. "Maybe you should keep your mouth shut, girl."
"What? I don't believe in magic! What's so wrong with that?"
"You heard Combo!"
"Guys?" Beat said. "Can we quit bitching here?"
"Oh, shut up!" Gum yelled. "You're as dumb as the rest of them! Look, you saw it was Cube that did it, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but –"
"So that means Cube did it! And that's all there is to it!"
"She's your friend!" Mew yelled. "Cut her some slack, why don't you?"
"Beat's my friend too!"
"Oh, geez, can't we even have one conversation in this gang without girls gettin' hysterical?" Slate said.
"Hey, I'm not hysterical!" Piranha snapped at him. "And at least I say something, I don't just make love to the pinball machine!"
"Girls always fall back on dumb insults."
"You sexist jerk –"
"Oh, here we go with the feminism crap," Garam said.
"Shut up," Combo said. "You're talking out your ass."
"Says the guy who thinks monsters are real."
"This one is and we need to know how to kill it!"
"If it's so damn powerful how can it be killed?" Gum snapped. "You got all the answers, Mew, how can we kill it?"
"I don't know! I figured you guys could help me!"
"Help you when you killed our friend –"
"Shut up and quit getting at her!" Tab yelled. "We need a plan, we ain't got much time –"
"Well, we don't have one!" Gum yelled back at him. "Live with it!"
"Well, we do."
They stopped. The breeze was picking up again, and the windows rattled.
So did the door, but that was because two figures had pushed it back against the wall. They stood there now, damp, one clutching a scythe.
"You should have stayed to listen to us, kitten," Indigo said.
"Yeah." Kell's spiked hair was drooping like wilting leaves, and her make-up was smeared. "We ran out to follow you and we got all wet in the rain. So are you guys gonna grow up and listen, or…do we have to do this the hard way?"
Several GGs gulped. Indigo's scythe did look awfully sharp.
"What do you want?" Beat said at last.
Indigo flicked rat-tails of damp blue hair out of her eyes.
"I think I know how to stop the monster."
The storm hadn't cleared the air. The garage was becoming humid, smelly. Mew's dress stuck to her back, and suddenly her eyes were aching for sleep…sleep in the heat…outside, the sky was smeared with a preview for sunrise, a hint on the horizon.
"So let me get this straight," Beat said, massaging his temples with one hand. "The monster was brought here by that voodoo record."
"Yep," Kell said.
"But when, uh, Indigo weakened it by stabbing it, it decided to kill by possessing people and getting them to kill instead."
"Yep."
"It can only do this if you've heard all of the music, though."
"Yep."
"But you think it can be stopped by some other record that K has."
"Yeah, I do." Indigo nodded. "My dad told me about two records. Balance, you see? One brings it out, the other sends it back."
"How do we know K didn't just leave the other record in the Bahamas junk shop?" Piranha asked.
"I'm hoping he didn't," Indigo said. "So what we do is, we request him to play that song at a certain time today, and while it's playing, we got to lure the monster somewhere and turn on our radios and that really loud. And that should kill it."
"And if it doesn't?" Mew said.
"Hopefully it will."
"This has too much hoping in," Gum muttered.
"Well, it's the only plan we got," Kell snapped. "You got a better one, blondie?"
"I was just saying –"
"Guys," Beat said. "Look. We need to…uh…we need to…oh, shit, I need more sleep. We need to…"
"Why don't we sleep?" Indigo said. "We can plan later. When we're all awake. The monster won't attack our minds while we're asleep, and it won't try and break in."
"Are you sure?" Piranha said.
"It only would if it was desperate, and there's still people on the streets. That's if it's strong enough to attack."
"You're not staying here, are you?" Gum said, glowering at Indigo and Kell. "This is our garage –"
"We know when we're not wanted," Kell said. "I wouldn't sleep with GGs…well, not most GGs anyway." She grinned as Gum's scowl darkened. "Come on, Indigo. We'll go back to the HQ."
"Be careful," Mew said before she could think.
"Of course we will, kitty," Kell said, snickering. "I'm probably safer than you anyway, I've got the girl with the scythe."
She and Indigo walked out of the garage. Gum stood watching until they'd gone.
"Right," she said at last. "Mew, what are you still doing here?"
"Gum!" Beat and Tab both yelled.
Gum looked a little mulish. "What? Look, she hasn't been proved innocent."
"Why can't you just –" Tab began.
Mew sighed. She was too tired to have this argument. "Quit it, guys. I'll sleep on the roof, okay?"
"That sucks!" Tab yelled. "We're a gang, you're part of it, you…"
Mew shrugged, and turned away so he wouldn't see she was trying not to cry suddenly. Because he was right, they were, had been, a gang, and this had been her home, and these people had been her friends, and now one of them was dead and the rest hated her, and if they were gone she really had nobody and nowhere to go, and that was too cold and dark to think about…
She grabbed a blanket from the floor, and, clutching it, clambered out through the skylight and onto the roof. She thought, make sure I don't flash my underpants, Yo-Yo'd love that – and then shuddered because he never would, never again, he wasn't somewhere else he was gone –
The roof was damp. Streetlamps and night sky rippled, broken, in the puddles on its surface. Mew sighed, found a relatively dry patch, and sat down, wrapping the blanket round her shoulders, and stared out at the city.
Cube was somewhere in that city.
Was she all right?
Had the monster found her?
Or had she really gone mad, and become a monster herself – no – that was a bad thought –
The skylight creaked, and she looked round to see Tab climbing through it. He was clutching his own blanket.
"You don't need to do this," she said.
"I want to. If I stay in there I'll punch someone."
He squeezed next to her, trying to avoid the damp.
"They – they're just scared," Mew said at last, not sure if she was right, hoping she was, because you could feel sorry for people who were scared.
"Huh."
Nervously, she put an arm round his shoulders. He was so tense. But his back was warm against her skin, and warmth was good because the breeze was sharp out here.
"You don't reckon it can get up here, do you?" she said at last.
Tab swallowed, and leaned over to stare down at the ground.
"I hope not," he said at last.
They sat together for a bit, blankets itchy on their skin, the rain oozing into the edges of their clothes. The sky lightened, slowly slowly. They breathed together, and Mew closed her eyes, and let her head rest on Tab's shoulder, and sank down into a confused dream where she sat on the roof under a blazing orange sky and told herself to explain to Tab why she'd killed Yo-Yo.
She opened her eyes when her face felt sun.
Yes. Faint, white sun, too new.
"Sleep well?" Tab said.
"I…dunno."
"Mew."
"Yeah?" He sounded serious, like he had Something To Tell Her.
"I…"
"What?" She smiled at him, but he didn't smile back.
"Did you, um…did you…why did you…become a rudie?"
She frowned. "Parent trouble and a school I hated. My friends were moving onto college, and I'd flunked my exams. No point in staying in that life. Why?"
"I just wondered. Did you like school?"
"It was all right. I had friends and all. It was just…school, y'know? Why, did you like it?"
"No," he said, watching her carefully now. She liked him watching, her skin purred under his gaze, and yet – yet she was nervous suddenly.
"No, I hated it. Bunch of jerks there made my life a misery."
"Shit. I'm sorry."
It came out automatically and the next moment she suddenly had a stomach-ache. He would hate her if he knew. It had only been a bit of fun but he wouldn't see it like that. Oh no.
He was still watching.
Did he know? Had Indigo talked to him?
Her face was freezing, like a rabbit in headlights. Whatever she did, he might take it to mean she was keeping her mouth shut about something…
Whatever she did…
Tab wouldn't think badly of her, she wouldn't let him –
So she wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him, and he froze for a moment and then kissed her back.
That would stop him asking questions, a nasty part of her mind whispered.
The rest of it wasn't thinking any more, it was just feeling. Uncurling joy in her body. And the sun rose.
It watched, and laughed.
Sooner or later it would break into her mind. Kitten-girl. Kittens could claw and scratch.
But not at the moment.
The black mind?
The black mind was sleeping, terrified sleep in a back alley. It could attack, it could find her and attack, but then it would lose a receptive mind…no, better to wait.
Nearly healed. Soon it could get out on the streets and there would be no need for mind-games.
Except for one.
The scarlet thread writhed in its claws, and it reached out to it, and whispered, Why are you angry?
LET ME GO NOW!!
Why should I?
I mean it! Let me go or I'll fucking kill you, you bastard!
I can hold you forever –
You can't!
You don't know that. I can hold you forever. Or I can free you –
You're damn well gonna free me!
Or I can give you life.
What sort of bullshit is that?
You really want to go back to living in someone else's head? You really want to sit there being nothing but a spectator? You really want that half-life?
What else is there? But Scarlet's thoughts were less angry, suddenly, more thoughtful.
Together we can overpower your captor's mind completely.
There was silence a moment, then Scarlet said, Carry on.
I'm trying to use your link to climb into Indigo's mind, but she is closing against me. But she won't close against you. She misses you. She will welcome you back. All you need to do is take me with you.
And suppose I climb back in and leave you out here?
Then you can't overpower her. You're not strong enough. You two are equals, you'd fight eternally. I will tip the balance. When her mind has been destroyed, I will let you have the body, and go elsewhere. Deal?
More silence. Then the scarlet thread flickered in the claws.
Deal.
Indigo yawned, and opened her eyes, and stared up at the empty, echoing ceiling of the Love Shocker HQ. Looked like the storm had finished, anyway. Still too hot though. Her head ached.
Indigo?
She froze.
Scarlet?
Yup, it's me.
What happened to you?
It's a long story…