The Fandom(95)

He carries me towards the Humvee. ‘You can watch her burn. Along with all the rebel intel, years of work. It’s all got to burn.’

And I realize Thorn’s hate – for me, for the Gems – now overpowers his love for Ruth. What started as something beautiful has grown and morphed into something ugly. A black, jagged mess of revenge and hate. We were so naive, so foolish, to think that his feelings for Ruth would offer some sort of protection to Katie. I get this ringing in my ears as I realize I’m about to lose Katie too.

Thorn throws me to the floor and stamps a foot into my stomach, pinning me to the ground. Ash jumps on his back, but Thorn seems to just shrug him off. I wriggle and flip like a fish on a bank, but he possesses Gem strength and the boot won’t budge. He jabs the button on that little black box. Two small explosions punch through the drone and shards of glass rain down on the pavement. The church windows begin to glow orange, the eyes of a Halloween pumpkin.

‘No!’ I scream. ‘Not Katie.’ Nate’s dead. Alice has abandoned me. Even worse, betrayed me. The thought of being the only one left from the four of us fills me with such an intense loneliness, I think I may implode. ‘I can’t lose Katie too.’ The tarmac slaps against the backs of my thighs, my shoulder blades, as I continue to struggle against his boot.

‘Do something,’ Ash shouts to Matthew.

‘This ain’t right, Thorn,’ Matthew says.

Saskia runs towards us. ‘You ain’t seriously gonna let her friend fry?’

Thorn pushes his boot down so hard I hear something crack in my chest. ‘They set us up,’ he says.

Of course. He thinks Katie betrayed him too. That’s why he wants her dead.

‘It was Alice.’ My voice starts to fade, robbed of breath and hope. ‘It was Alice who betrayed you . . . Us. I swear it wasn’t Katie.’

‘Nice try. But Alice didn’t know about the raid.’

‘She did. Ask Baba, please, just ask Baba,’ I manage to say.

Thorn laughs. His boot bears down and I hear another crack, feel another round of pain. ‘What, the precog?’ he says. ‘She can see the future, do you really think she’d stick around for our firework display?’

I feel the air flooding my lungs, the release of pressure from my ribs as Thorn lifts his foot, but the relief is short-lived. He pulls me on to my knees, squeezing my cheeks, forcing me to stare at the church. Flames push through the windows, reds and golds lapping skywards, writhing and shifting into ever-changing patterns of shadow and light.

He whispers into my ear. ‘Can you smell it yet, Little Flower? Stick a match to us and we’re all just the same. Gems, Imps, brothers, friends. We all stink like roasted pig and we all turn to dust.’

I feel sick thinking of Nate and Katie, their skin blistering in the heat. The flames climb higher, swallowing the church in reds and golds and smoke. You can’t lose Katie too. Think, Violet, think. I recall that golden pelican, plucking at its sacrificial breast, and the ink from Katie’s letter stirs inside me, those words appearing in my mind’s eye: All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. And suddenly, I know what role I must play to save her.

‘You’re right.’ My voice gathers its strength from somewhere deep inside. ‘I did betray you. I told the Gems about the raid. I set the ambush in motion.’

‘No,’ Ash shouts. ‘Violet, what are you doing? He’ll kill you.’

I know Ash is right, but I push on regardless. ‘Katie didn’t know anything about it. I never told her because I was worried her allegiances had switched. I was worried she would tell you of my betrayal.’

Thorn begins to laugh, tightening his grip on my face so I can barely breathe, forcing my eyes towards those reds and golds. ‘I knew it was you, Little Flower.’ He yanks at my cheeks so they feel stretched and clawed and hurls me forwards. I headbutt the tarmac. He looks at me for a moment, really looks at me. ‘You thought Katherine had switched allegiances?’

I manage a nod, spitting up something salty and hot. ‘She’s rebel to the core.’

He gazes into the flames for a moment, his face cast in amber, and then whispers something I don’t hear. And suddenly, his legs begin to move with the urgency of a man about to lose everything, pelting his body towards the church. I glance at Ash. I can’t lose Katie too. He must see this in my face, because without a word, he grabs my hand and we follow.

We burst through the wooden doors only moments after Thorn. The smoke hits me first – thick and dense, stinging my eyes and burning the inside of my nose – followed by a strange, pungent odour, like the Imp-bus when it backfires, or Dad’s whisky, stagnant in a crystal glass. Thorn is already just a silhouette, his broad shoulders giving him the appearance of a tombstone rising from the mist.

I tighten my grip on Ash’s hand and we wade through the smoke into the main body of the church. I see the desks and rood screen ripped apart by flames. The golden pelican and the circle of angels brought to their knees. But our path remains miraculously free from flames.

Momentarily, I freeze.

Nate.

The thought of the flames devouring his tiny body threatens to immobilize me completely. But I focus on Katie – her soft Scouse accent, her pea-green eyes – and I hold my breath and force my legs to move, following that tombstone and pulling Ash towards the tower.