Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1)(57)

The following week had brought another belated gift: the sight of Jackson, unharmed.

‘We thought you were hit,’ said Jessica. ‘We heard someone yell out and assumed it was you, seeing as you weren’t the one with the gun.’

Jackson looked apologetic.

‘I was trying to draw him away from you. I’m sorry if you were worried.’

‘And that explosion,’ said Luke. ‘All those flames. What was that?’

‘That was Skill, Luke. And just a small demonstration of what the Equals can do.’

‘Well, what they can’t do is keep two eyes open,’ scoffed Renie. ‘That big ginge walked right past you in the slammer.’

‘He wasn’t expecting to see us and Oz heading out,’ said Jackson. ‘So he didn’t. That’s how people work, Equals included. They see what they want to see. I assure you Gavar Jardine is not to be taken lightly. None of them are.’

‘That’s “Jardine” as in the people my family is slaving for, right?’ said Luke. ‘He’s one of them. My sister made us learn all the names.’

‘He is. And the plan is still to get you to their estate to rejoin your family as soon as possible. You shouldn’t be here on your own, Luke.’

But Luke wasn’t on his own, was he? He had the club.

He had friends. And a purpose.

But he also had family. Sisters.

Supposing Daisy and Abi had to see Gavar Jardine every day? If the guy could blow up a prison with just the force of his mind – his Skill – who knew what he might do to a slave who displeased him.

No, Luke’s place was with his family. But it was strange how the all-consuming need to join them had become less urgent as time went by.

‘How about it, Luke?’ Jackson’s voice pulled him back to the present. ‘Shall we plan a very special New Year’s party for the Overseer and her pals?’

As it turned out, ‘party’ didn’t come close.

It was remarkable, thought Luke, looking at the others sat around the table, how the Doc had managed to assemble a group of people with all the talents the club needed. As he’d come to know the others, he’d realized that behind their everyday exteriors lay some impressive abilities. Take the ditcher sisters. They’d both been police officers, but it had been a while before he’d learned exactly what kind.

‘Cyber crime,’ Hilda had said one day, taking pity on Luke’s attempts to guess.

‘Catching perverts,’ her sister had elaborated. ‘Internet drug dealers. Pleasant folk like that. So we know where to find stuff and how to hide stuff on just about any system.’

‘Plus we’ve got some great jokes that your mother wouldn’t approve of,’ finished Hilda.

So it was with the others. Jess had been a gym instructor, but had used her earnings to support a career as a semi-pro free runner. She’d begun her slavedays when on a protracted downer after realizing she was no longer at competition standard – ‘Worst decision my ego and I ever made,’ she’d told him ruefully.

Asif was a recently qualified computing science teacher who’d hated the classroom. (‘Kids terrify me. Imagine a room full of thirty Renies.’ Luke could see his point.) He’d become fascinated by the internet restriction protocols in place at the slavetowns. After spending a couple of years experimenting with hacking in, he’d decided to take on the bigger challenge of being inside and trying to hack out.

‘You started your days to give yourself a challenge?’ Luke asked him, incredulous.

‘What can I say?’ Asif shrugged. ‘Geeky as charged.’

What did Luke bring to the team? He wasn’t sure. He’d been useful fixing the getaway van, but no one could have foreseen needing his abilities there. He was also prepared to take a risk to do what was right. That had been second nature to him, though Luke had now been in Millmoor long enough to realize it wasn’t the choice most people made.

So that put him in a minority. But surely only one thing about him was unique. The fact that his family was at Kyneston.

Where, despite all that he’d contributed in Millmoor, Jackson still wanted him to go.

Did the Doc have some reason why?

No answer immediately presented itself, so Luke let that thought go and threw himself into the party planning.

They sat talking and arguing for hours, until they had something that looked like an actual, honest-to-goodness day of chaos across Millmoor. Renie chewed so much gum it was a wonder her teeth weren’t worn to nubbins. Jessica was looking alive again for the first time since Oz’s capture. Hilda and Tilda must have drunk a bathful of tea, and Asif was jiggling in his seat looking totally wired on nothing at all.

‘I don’t suppose we should involve anyone from the other slavetowns?’ Luke said finally. ‘Like Riverhead, maybe?’

Renie caught on straight away to this transparent pretext to see Angel again, and cackled mercilessly. Even Jess smiled.

‘What?’ he protested, face reddening. ‘Just saying. They might have some . . . awesome people, is all.’

Jackson watched him squirm. ‘Riverhead has its own priorities,’ he said finally, with a grin.

‘Okay, okay.’ Luke knew when he was beaten.

The Doc wrapped up the meeting. Now all the club had to do was bring its plans to life.