All That She Can See(48)

‘You seem very calm about the whole jail thing.’

‘Weirdly, I am. It just doesn’t feel that real to me. It feels like Monopoly jail. Do you know what I mean?’

Chase nodded. ‘Yeah, I understand. Doesn’t it creep you out, though? This idea that we’re part of this whole community that we didn’t even know existed? How many other… Feelers have we met and not known that’s what they were?’ Chase sat down on the kitchen floor next to Cherry.

‘I’ve not even thought about there being others like me since I met you,’ Cherry said shyly. ‘Have you?’

‘Yes, but I didn’t really think about it properly,’ Chase said. ‘I mean, I’m twenty-six! What are the chances of going that long without meeting anyone else like us?’

‘We must be rare,’ Cherry said.

‘Not that rare if there’s a whole Guild of Feelers who are after us,’ Chase pointed out, laughing.

‘True. They must be very good at hiding in plain sight, then,’ Cherry said. ‘It’s mad, really, when you think about it. A Guild of Feelers…’

‘Any part of you feel like running?’ Chase asked.

Cherry frowned. ‘What do you mean, running?’

‘From the Guild. Keep doing what you do but run to stay out of prison. Why don’t you fight them?’

Cherry blinked slowly, thinking about it. ‘Maybe I could run for a while but I just… don’t think I could run all my life.’





17





Cherry Pie





The pie wobbled fiercely on Cherry’s lap on the boat ride to The Barbican. Not because of the waves that gently rolled underneath them but because Cherry couldn’t stop bouncing her knees up and down. Cherry’s eyes were fixed on a pale yellow flyer that a girl not much younger than Cherry was holding. She must have been twenty at most, her cheeks rosy in the sea wind, her dangling dreamcatcher earrings becoming tangled in her blonde hair. Cherry could just about make out the words PSYCHIC SISTERS across the top of the flyer. Chase put a steady hand over the pie to slow her jittery legs.

‘All is going to go according to plan,’ he whispered. Cherry watched the blonde girl take her purse out of her bag and count through the notes and hoped that Chase was right.

When they disembarked the boat they saw hundreds of yellow flyers fluttering in the hands of nearly everyone in sight, all of them heading in the direction of Psychic Sisters.

‘At least they’ll have a crowd to embarrass themselves in front of. Come on.’ Chase went to grab Cherry’s hand but she pulled away. ‘Cherry? What is it?’

‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ she said in a small voice.

‘What? But last night you were so sure.’

‘I know, I know. But who are we to decide who deserves to be punished?’

‘Who else would decide that?’ Chase said. ‘The Guild? You want to leave everything up to them?’

‘I don’t know.’ Cherry gestured the pie up to the sky. ‘The universe?’ She shrugged. ‘Surely not us.’

‘They’re my family and I know they’re bad people but it still hurts me to say that we need to stop them. They’re going too far.’ Chase stopped pulling Cherry’s arm and reached to take the pie from her but she nimbly moved it behind her back. ‘Cherry… we’re not doing this out of spite to hurt them. We’re doing this to help Sally and to stop more people being hurt and blackmailed.’ Chase placed his hands on either side of Cherry’s face. ‘We’re the heroes in this story, okay?’ Chase turned her around and took the pie out of her hands.

‘Then why do I feel like a villain?’ Cherry groaned and started to trudge in step with everyone else.

‘Because you don’t ever want to do anything mean to anyone. Whether they deserve it or not.’

‘And you do?’ Cherry asked, wrapping her chunky knit cardigan around her.

‘Maybe at one time, yes, I did mean things willingly.’ Chase looked sideways at Cherry. ‘But things are changing for me now.’

‘How so?’

‘Because I know it’s not just about me any more. There’s a bigger picture to think about. Tricking my family into eating the pie might feel wrong, but we’re doing something only kind of bad for the greater good. We’re balancing each other out, Cherry. If anything, the scales are tipping further in your favour.’

‘Are you calling me fat?’ Cherry mocked.

‘What? No, of course not! Where did you get that… oh, I see. Very good. Well done,’ he said when he caught her smirking. ‘At least you’re smiling now.’

But that smile was short-lived. When they reached the shop they saw that Velina and Danior had erected a small podium directly outside. On it stood a small table dressed with a red velvet blanket and with a crystal ball placed in the centre. Two black chairs had been placed either side of the table. Even though the Facebook invitation had said to be there at midday and it was only half eleven, the crowd was already at least six people deep and everyone looked worse for wear. Most were sporting obvious bedheads, some were yawning, some still had fake, plastic smiles plastered on their faces. And every single person had a Meddlum. All of the Meddlums, most of them being different sizes of Guilt and Confusion, lined the other side of the street opposite the shop. They wrestled and jostled, filling the air with their inhuman grunts and howling. It was a mess.