Chapter 4: Mortal Peril
"Hey Alice. What the fuck, I thought we were getting pizza?" Her new friend, Wes, acknowledged her by her new name after coming inside an abandoned store where they had set up a place weeks ago.
"It's fuckin' raining, I'm not going outside. We have some old soup cans anyway. I can heat one up for yeh?"
She would make a fire underneath them and enjoy hot soup whenever she got hungry. It was almost April now, and she knew that soon it would get warm outside again. There were two other kids her age, Wes and Fatz, and then five older kids. One of them was Fatz's sister, Gabby, who was nice, but the four guys always gave Alice the creeps.
"I'm sick of soup." She shrugged.
"Want to play a game? I'm bored." She split the deck and they played War: Whoever had the highest card won that hand. It was back and forth until three of the older boys came back, with two strangers who were adults.
"Shit, that slut and her little brother can go fuck themselves."
Wes greeted them with a little wave.
Alice put down a queen, beating out Wes's jack and he groaned. His 9 of clubs beat her 3 of diamonds. She noticed the adult men were talking to two of the boys in low voices. It made her uneasy and she kept an eye on them.
Her 7 beat his 6 and her 5 his 4.
"Hey, Alice: Come here, we have a job for yeh."
"I know, I was gon' go get pizza but it started pourin'."
"It's OK, these guys think yeh can help 'em with somethin'."
She lost her 9 of hearts to Wes's king and then went over to the two adults and the other boys.
"Wha' can I do for yeh?"
They looked at her in a way she didn't quite like. One of them whispered something to the tallest boy, who shrugged and nodded.
"Just come with us and we'll tell you all about it."
She paused, trying to think quick, and then ran toward the door and out into the rain. She sprinted down the residential street but hands grabbed her ponytail, yanking her head back painfully and a hand clasped over her mouth. She bit down and her attacker screamed as he caught fire and pulled her onto him. She burned too, but never felt a thing. She rolled off him and set the other adult man on fire. She ran then, fast as possible for blocks.
She caught her breath after running into a backyard. Tears sprung to her eyes: They had betrayed her. She never liked them much, but it was nice to have a group of people to come home to. She wondered if she could find Fatz and Gabby, and maybe Wes would join them somewhere new. She sat in someone's back patio (no one seemed to be home) and wiped away tears.
Her heart raced thinking of what almost had happened to her, again. She hated being a girl and wished she was a boy, like Wes and Fatz, who would never have someone try and sell them. They would never be called a slut or a whore.
She sat, angry, and then decided to try the back door. It opened and she quietly entered the house.
It was small, with old furniture, but clean. She concluded from the floral couches that some old lady must live there and went looking through the bedroom for money or valuables. She was right: Photos of grandchildren lined the walls and on the bedside table was a framed photo of an older gentleman. She picked it up and felt sad for no real reason. She was going to sit and wonder what it would be like to live in a house, but was over self-pitying. She didn't find much and hated stealing anyway. What she really wanted was a pair of scissors.
She found some in the kitchen and looked in the bathroom mirror while standing on a laundry basket. She cut her hair down to two-inches length. Long dark strands fell into the bathroom sink and she tried to get it even. In the end, she had just the cut she was looking for: She was a boy now.
"I'm Bobby," she said aloud to the mirror. Maybe she could pass as a seven year old boy, until it was expected that her voice deepen. She approved and rinsed the hair down the drain. She grabbed some fruit and chocolate milk on the way out, and drank it straight from the liter as she walked back to the abandoned store.
She sneaked past the door and checked inside.
The adults were gone, she wondered if they were still alive. She was ready to use her fire on any of the older boys. Instead, she found only Wes.
"Hey, who are yeh?!" He yelled.
"It's me, stupid." She said back.
"Yeh cut your hair."
"Yeah, I decided to be a boy. So, I'm gon' need yeh clothes, mine are all burnt anyway."
"Yeah, they said yeh set them on fire." She pulled his clothes out of his bag and started to change.
"Did they die?"
"They're burned up pretty bad." He paused. "What are yeh?"
"I don' know. An alien, maybe."
She took off her shirt and put on his t-shirt and navy blue hoodie. Her jeans were already baggy, but she grabbed a pair of his boxers.
"Where're yeh going?"
"I don' know, London? Want to come with?"
"No, I'm from London an' I hated it there."
"OK, well, I'm gon' head out tonigh'." She expected that she had enough money for a bus ride. She slung her bag over her shoulder and gave him a hug.
"Bye, take care o' yehself."
For those fateful moments when the hand again settled onto "Mortal Peril" young Albus didn't think he could breathe, his chest tightened and his stomach twisted. He tried to yell out for his mother, but once he thought that just maybe he could finally get the word "Mum" out, the hand moved back to "Traveling." Finally, the tightness faded and he screamed for her.
A week later, Harry brought home a special quill that would record each change to Ariana's hand.