All That She Can See(47)

‘You can’t,’ Chase said, making Cherry jump.

‘Can’t what?’ Sally asked, confused.

‘I can!’ Cherry said, marching through to the kitchen. Chase followed her, leaving Sally looking after them in bewilderment.

‘No, I mean… you literally can’t,’ Chase said once they were out of Sally’s earshot. ‘Happy. The Guild. They’ve got tabs on you. Big Brother is watching you. If you dish out anything to anyone they’re going to know. They’ll take you away and put you in one of their prisons.’

Cherry paused and drummed her hands on the kitchen counter. ‘Is that really worse than working for the Guild?’ she asked. ‘Worse than doing nothing to help Sally, and stop Velina and Danior?’

‘I don’t know! Maybe!’ Chase grabbed Cherry’s hands. ‘I don’t want to lose you. I’ve only just found you.’

Cherry was caught off-guard. She’d only ever had to think about herself for the last few years. But now Chase was here… and everything was different. ‘Chase, I… don’t want to lose you either but we need to do something. Your mum and aunt are hurting too many people.’

Chase sighed. ‘I know. You’re right. But there must be another way.’

Cherry shook her head sadly. ‘This is the only way. Will you help me?’

Chase kissed Cherry’s forehead and pulled her into a hug. ‘I’ll help you,’ he whispered. ‘I don’t know how to say no to you.’

‘What are you to up to in there?’ Sally called.

Cherry smiled up at Chase. ‘Planning!’ she called back.

‘Plotting,’ Chase muttered.

Sally appeared in the doorway, wiping her nose on her sleeve and brushing her silver dreads back into place. ‘Look at you two. You’re thick as thieves! What changed?’

‘We just realised…’ Cherry shrugged at Chase so he finished the thought for her.

‘We’ve got a lot more in common than we first thought.’





Cherry had never broken the law before. She’d never even thought about it. However, now that she was putting the finishing touches to a plot that would break the laws of a world she had only just discovered even existed, she was finding any way possible to justify it.

‘I mean… it’s not really breaking the law if you’re helping people, right? Surely that’s a flaw in the law, not with me.’ She worked her rolling pin at double speed, squashing the pastry beneath so it was as thin as paper.

‘I mean… how valid is this Guild of Feelers anyway? How can they enforce actual laws?’ She overloaded the pie crust so that the cherries spilled out onto the chopping board beneath.

‘I mean…’

‘Cherry.’ Chase reached out and steadied the pie tin that was shaking precariously in her hands. ‘It’s going to be okay.’ He took the tin and placed it back onto the counter. ‘One last touch.’ He gathered all the spit he could muster at the front of his mouth and while thinking of every truth he’d ever told and all the truths he wanted the world to know, he swilled it around between his teeth and sloshed it back and forth over his tongue. He spat it into a bowl, took up a basting brush and glazed the top of the pie. ‘There we are! All done!’ he said, pleased with himself.

‘Grim.’ Cherry grimaced and Chase grinned as he opened the oven and slid in the pie.

‘Sally seemed a bit shaken. Maybe we should have walked her home?’ Cherry said.

‘I’m sure she’ll be fine. She seemed to want to be alone anyway,’ Chase said, dusting off his hands on his grey jeans, leaving floury handprints on his thighs.

‘So how should we do this?’ Cherry said. ‘Do we leave the pie for them anonymously?’

‘No. They’d be suspicious. They’ve got too many enemies so they’d probably throw it straight in the bin if they didn’t know who it was from,’ Chase said. ‘I’ll say it’s from me. They think I’m loyal now, remember?’

Cherry bit her lip but nodded her agreement. ‘But we have to make sure they eat it,’ she said.

‘Easy. I’ll eat some too. I could do with being a little more honest,’ Chase said with a smile.

‘The only other problem with making them more honest is that we need to get to them first, before the pie kicks in. Otherwise they’re more likely to expose Sally too. No doubt they’ll make a speech.’

‘Maximum humiliation,’ Chase said.

‘Exactly. So we just need to make sure we interrupt them before they get to that.’

‘Make a fool of them before they can make a fool of anyone else. I like it! How long does that honesty last for?’

‘It depends on how much they eat,’ Cherry explained. ‘The average slice? Probably about three to four hours. Just long enough for them to get their comeuppance.’

‘Perfect.’ Chase leaned against the counter and put his hands in his pockets. ‘You’ve got flour in your hair,’ he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

‘I always have flour in my hair,’ Cherry said, smiling at him.

‘I know. You wouldn’t look like you without it.’

They stood there, their gazes locked for a few moments, before Cherry reluctantly looked away. She bent down to check the pie through the oven window. ‘Well, let’s hope they have a decent-sized kitchen in those prisons.’