The Fandom(7)

Russell gestures at the brooch on Nate’s tunic: a thistle head carved from oak. ‘Nice badge – the symbol of Imp rebels.’

‘Cut us down and we come back stronger.’ Nate’s face lights up. ‘You know, like weeds.’

Russell slaps him on the back, I think to shut him up, and then turns to Katie. ‘And . . . you are?’

‘A DNA helix,’ Katie says.

‘Clever, I like it.’

I notice Alice scowling, the foundation cracking on her usually flawless skin.

Something creaks overhead. The emerald light wobbles, sending a giant shadow scudding across Russell’s seamless features. ‘So how do you want to do this, guys? Group or individually?’

‘Group,’ Katie and I say in stereo.

But Alice mustn’t hear, because she says, ‘Individually, please.’

I hear it again. My eyes scan the scaffolding; it looks sturdy enough. The violins must be messing with my head.

‘Come on then, superhuman.’ Russell loops an arm around Alice’s waist, but I don’t feel jealous, I just feel dizzy – like I’ve downed a vodka and Red Bull.

I hadn’t noticed the photographer until now. He seems to emerge from nowhere, as though cut from the dark itself. I hear that creak again, another shift of emerald light.

‘So, what’s your name?’ Russell says.

‘Alice.’

‘Well, you really are in Wonderland now.’

Willow would never say that. Disappointment surges up my throat, making my lips tingle. The camera flashes, bleaching out their faces, sending another shadow jutting up the canvas, all spikes and dips. I blink several times.

Alice giggles. ‘Anime Alice, that’s my pen name. I write loads of Gallows Dance fanfic, you may have heard of me?’

Russell looks impressed. ‘So you’re Anime Alice? The Anime Alice. Sure, I’ve heard of you. You’re becoming quite the internet sensation. Hey, Julia, get a photo of me with Alice here, it’ll look great on Instagram.’

Alice can’t resist a flick of her eyebrow for Nate’s benefit, right before that infectious smile bursts across her face.

Julia fishes her iPhone from her pocket. ‘I hope he’s paying you for this, Alice, was it?’ She takes the photo. ‘Hey, next Comic-Con you should come along, sit on the fanfic panel. You’ve got a great face for publicity.’

Alice opens her mouth to respond, but the drums seem to swell, drowning out the rest of her words, and this strange smell fills my nostrils – medicine and burning fabric. I clasp my hands to my temples, my pulse ramping up a gear.

‘Violet?’ Katie says.

The creaking is back, louder this time – it definitely isn’t the violins. And that emerald light begins to flicker, like a bulb’s about to blow or a thousand moths have got stuck behind the glass casing.

‘Violet? Are you OK?’ Katie says. Her face turns from green to white, white to green.

The floor seems to swing a foot to the left, and I start to feel like I’ve stepped off a waltzer – this morning’s porridge hot and thick at the base of my throat. I think I hear someone scream my name. I turn to see Nate’s mouth pulled open in a yawn, his brown eyes wide. Instinctively, my eyes flick up. And that’s when I see it. The emerald light spinning from a flex, the scaffolding lurching forwards. I barely have time to cover my face as the entire metal structure hurtles towards us.





Waking feels like crawling out of a bog. Every time I see the surface, feel the fresh air on my skin, some dark phantom pulls me under again. It’s so tempting to just keep on sinking, but the thought of the scaffolding pinning me down, imprisoning Nate, Alice, Katie . . . even Russell and Julia . . . drives me on. Somehow, I drag my body from the mud, force my eyes to open, compel my brain to engage.

The light from the fire door casts the room in a ghostly glow. I can just pick out the metal rods of the scaffold, spearing the floor like a bizarre postmodern sculpture. That smell – medicine and burning fabric – grows in my nostrils, causing my eyes to smart.

‘Nate?’ I lever myself on to my elbows. Pain shoots through my skull.

‘Violet?’ I hear his voice, wavering at the edges, soaring above the muffled theme tune and the chime of metal against metal.

I extend my fingers like I can somehow draw him to my body. ‘Nate, are you OK?’

I see his face, nipped with fear, pitching towards me in the gloom. ‘Violet, you’re bleeding.’ He slips his hands beneath my armpits and pulls me into a half-standing position. My head feels like it may explode.

‘Alice? Katie?’ I push my hands into the wet flesh of my forehead.

‘I’m OK . . . I think.’ Alice kind of reels towards us, her dress and thighs streaked with ash. ‘What the hell happened?’

But I don’t answer, I need to find Katie. I drop on to all fours and begin to pat the ground. She was standing right next to me, she can’t have gone far. ‘Katie? Katie?’

I hear a groan to my right. My head pivots – pain slamming into the backs of my eyes – and I see her neon tights, luminous in the black. Nate reaches her first. They wobble into a kneeling position.

‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ she mutters, almost to herself.

That alien scent grows, and we hear another creak, louder this time.