it quickly.
‘She shouldn’t be with us. For her own sake,’ he said firmly.
‘We can’t leave her behind.’ Sophie softened her critical tone. She turned back to comfort Caitlin and was shocked to see that a new flintiness had replaced the little girl’s innocence.
‘I’m going with you. Nobody dumps me,’ she said sharply.
‘It’s like having an acting class in the back,’ Mallory muttered.
‘Who are you now?’ Sophie asked.
‘I’m me — Caitlin, that is.’ She softened. ‘I know it’s difficult for you both, but I’m asking you to make some concessions. I’m not going to let you down-’ She paused. ‘If I do, I’ll make sure it’s only me who pays the price. But I need to do this. I need to make things right.’ She silenced Sophie’s coming question and added, ‘Don’t ask me to explain. Memories are surfacing from a life I don’t wholly remember. Upsetting things …’ She choked back a sob.
‘We all have different faces we put on when needs must,’ Jerzy said. ‘In this, Caitlin is no different-’
‘Who kicked your box?’ Mallory said harshly. ‘Stop acting like you’ve got an opinion worth hearing.’ He pulled the transit into a multi-storey car park and brought it to a halt in the first empty space. ‘Okay, I’m sorry.’ He turned back to Caitlin. ‘We’ve all got our own big bag of rocks on our shoulders. Some are more obvious than others, but that doesn’t give me a right to start mouthing off.’
Caitlin’s touching, relieved smile made Sophie warm to Mallory, reminding her of the qualities that sometimes drew her to him so strongly.
Jerzy clapped his hands together. ‘Oh, the band of heroes shapes before my eyes-’
Mallory jabbed a finger at him. ‘You stay five paces ahead of us at all times. If I wanted a cheerleader I’d choose one who looks good in a skirt.’
Even though the streets were deserted, they kept away from the main thoroughfares as they made their way into the city centre.
‘Everywhere I look I keep thinking I see spiders,’ Sophie said. ‘Is this how it’s going to be? Never feeling at peace again?’
Mallory was distracted by a rack of newspapers outside a newsagent’s. ‘That thing we saw over the West End last night — the thing that shattered the Enemy’s illusion of normalcy? All that fire and destruction?’ He tossed Caitlin a copy of the
The headline read:
TERROR STRIKE ON LONDON
The rest of the front page showed firemen battling to put out a conflagration engulfing an Oxford Street store.
Uncomprehending, Caitlin flipped to the inside report. ‘There’s no truth here at all. It says all the devastation was caused by bombs in Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street … and … and some kind of gas that made people hallucinate.’
‘Clever,’ Sophie said bitterly.
Mallory tore open a copy of the
‘It means we’re not going to get much help from anyone,’ Sophie said.
‘Then come quickly,’ Jerzy said. ‘The Enemy has recruited many foul things and they will be attempting to prevent you from returning to the Far Lands.’
As they moved on, Jerzy drew a blanket over his head and shoulders and lowered his gaze to divert attention from his mask. Soon the cathedral was in sight, its gleaming stone incandescent in the morning sun. All was still around the remnants of the monastic buildings and grand old houses to the north. To the south, they lost themselves in the sprawl of streets and alleys of the medieval town that converged on Christ Church Gate, leading to the lawns surrounding the cathedral. Winged angels looked down at them from the gatehouse.
‘That’s us,’ Caitlin said in her little girl’s voice.
‘That is our destination.’ Jerzy indicated a circular tower on the eastern edge. ‘Known as Becket’s Crown, it is the oldest part of the site. The first church was built there, but before that there was another temple dating to the earliest days of your people. Thousands of years of unbroken worship empowering the ground.’
‘How come you know so much about it?’ Mallory asked.
‘I came here for a while after the Blitz.’ It sounded as though Jerzy was smiling beneath the mask. ‘I was made more than welcome by the local people, despite my appearance. They all helped me with my mission.’
‘What mission, Jerzy?’ Sophie asked.
‘Gathering any and all information that might help with the work that lies ahead. Your work.’
‘You’ve been planning for this since the Second World War?’ Sophie asked in disbelief.
‘Oh, it has been planned for much longer than that.’
Mallory checked his watch. ‘Still more than three hours till this place opens up. Let’s find some breakfast.’
‘Don’t you think we should be staying out of sight?’ Sophie asked.
‘Got to eat.’
‘What happens if our photos are on the morning news?’
‘We fight our way back here.’
‘You really are pig-headed.’
Mallory shrugged. ‘I don’t like hiding. It’s not in my nature. You can stay here if you want. I’ll cover you with branches.’
‘No thanks,’ Sophie replied. ‘I think I’ll come along just to hear whatever creative excuses you come up with when everything goes pear-shaped.’
‘You’re so negative.’ Mallory wandered off, whistling. ‘You need to enjoy life more.’
In the sizzling, hissing confines of a cafe patronised by early-morning workers, they ate their breakfast at a table with a clear view of the dawn-bright street.
‘I don’t understand you,’ Sophie said. ‘You actually seem happy to be doing this.’
‘Whichever way you cut it, it’s better than the life I had before. I suppose it boils down to slavery and freedom.’ He sipped his tea thoughtfully. ‘You can be a slave to all sorts of things — fear, guilt, self-loathing. You can be a slave by trying to keep yourself from feeling anything, trapped in a little world where you know all the boundaries. You throw yourself into everything the world has to offer without any fear, yeah, you suffer. You encounter a lot of bad things. But it’s exhilarating.’ He chose his words carefully. ‘We were all made to experience. Good or bad. It’s about learning. And by giving yourself up to that you become free.’
‘A philosopher, too.’ Sophie had intended the comment to be faintly sarcastic, but it came out tinged with admiration.
‘I’ve experienced so many bad things.’ Caitlin stared into Mallory’s face as if he had given her some great revelation. ‘My husband and son died, in that other life. That almost destroyed me. I want some of those other experiences. The good ones.’
Her words touched Mallory. ‘We’ll make sure you get some.’
‘I think we should move from here soon.’ Jerzy had been intently watching the street throughout the meal.
‘You’ve seen something?’ Sophie asked.
Jerzy lifted the edge of the blanket so that his mask caught the light. ‘I think I see shapes … people … but they fade like the mist.’
‘What’s up with you, then?’ A burly man with grey hair coiffured like a fifties movie star leaned across his fry-up to peer at Jerzy. ‘You in a play or something?’
‘That’s right, mate.’ Jerzy slipped into fluent cockney. ‘Have to keep the image up when I’m off the stage.’
The burly man nodded. ‘Your mask — it’s the one that old music hall star used to wear, ain’t it?’
‘That’s right. Max Masque.’ A note of warm surprise was clear in Jerzy’s voice.
‘My old man loved him. Saw him up in the Smoke when he was a kid. He still remembers some of the old
