She remembered her gran’s advice again – to get people on your side, find out what they want and give it to them. What did Rima want? She seemed to value friendship more than anything. It was clear that she loved Leah, Felix and Kasper, and showed her affection by teasing and bickering with them. She wanted people to joke around with her and have fun. Maybe Harriet could give her that, too?
She wasn’t sure she was brave enough – the idea of inviting ridicule made her feel too exposed.
But she could show affection in other ways. She could compliment Rima.
“You know, you’re not just the mum friend,” Harriet said. “I think you’re really funny.”
Rima plumped up with pride, her eyes going bright. “The funny one. I like the sound of that. Thank you, Harriet.”
Harriet smiled back, then pictured her gran frowning at her, and her smile disappeared. She was losing focus – this was about getting Rima to help her.
Harriet tilted her head, pretending something had occurred to her. “How did you kill that rat, by the way? I thought we couldn’t touch anything. Is your animal form corporeal?”
Rima shook her head. “I don’t need to touch the rat’s body. You can kind of – grab the spirit and tug it free of the body. Any ghost can do it, but most humans aren’t fast enough to catch them; rats are kind of speedy. I can only do it in owl form. Kimaya on the first floor has these, like, tentacle pincers, so she’s way better at it, but—”
“So the rat dies?” Harriet interrupted. “And you absorb its energy, or give it to someone else to absorb?”
“Yeah. Some of the energy from the death gets released into the atmosphere, like when you died. But most of it stays in the spirit, which makes it easy to trade with. It’s a small amount – not enough to do anything useful, like bring a Shell out of stasis. It’s just a little pick-me-up. I tend to swap the spirits with other people most of the time, rather than absorbing the energy myself. I get a little hyperactive if I have too much extra energy.”
Harriet squinted at the ceiling, considering this, while Rima went off on a tangent about someone who had never paid up after a trade.
Did it only work with rats, or could you kill a larger animal that way? Surely the bigger the animal, the more energy it would release? If she’d felt that good after consuming the energy from a rat, how might a squirrel or a fox make her feel? Something so huge would surely be enough to help manifest her power.
Rima had stopped talking, so Harriet belatedly made an impressed expression. “That’s really cool!”
“Honestly, I mainly use my power to talk to animals, not hunt them. That’s how I got Cody to be friends with me – by turning into a fox. I started training her in that form, but it still took absolutely ages. She kept getting distracted by random things like dust and bumblebees. It took a few years before she would even sit down on command.”
“Wow.” That made sense of everyone’s obsession with the fox. But it was taking them off-topic. Harriet gently steered the conversation back in the direction she wanted it to go. “You’re so talented. I’d love to see you in action. Do you think that you could get me another animal spirit? Something bigger than a rat would be amazing. It would be a massive favour. Please?”
Rima’s smile dropped. “I’m sorry, Harriet. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Qi was right – your reaction to the energy was too strong. If things went wrong, I wouldn’t be able to control you like she did. I mean, you nearly tried to consume me too.” She laughed, then added, clearly worried that Harriet would take that the wrong way, “Not that you actually would have done it, if you’d known the owl was me, of course! It was an involuntary reaction. You’re just too fresh.”
Harriet smiled stiffly. So much for the power of friendship. Even when she was nice to her, Rima wouldn’t help her out. “No problem. I totally understand.”
She’d have to find someone else.
Rima squeezed her shoulder. “I really am sorry. Shall we go and find the others? Kasper and Felix are about due for their daily argument, and we want to get front-row seats. It might cheer you up?”
“Actually,” Harriet said, standing up, “I’ve got something to do. I’ll catch up with you guys later, OK?”
She hurried off, trying not to feel guilty about Rima’s hurt look. She had to use her time wisely, and there was no point making friends with people who couldn’t help her get home.
It was like her gran always said: Take what you need and move on when you’re not getting it. People were valuable until they weren’t – and Rima and the others had stopped being worth the investment.
Chapter 6
HARRIET
On the stairs between the second and third floors, Harriet stopped next to the scrawny dreadlock guy she had seen before. She realized now what he’d been doing – hunting rats for energy.
“Er, excuse me?” she said.
He held up one hand, listening to something inside the wall. After thirty painful seconds of silence, he stepped away and turned to her, grinning toothily. “It’s gone. You must have disturbed it. Hi, newbie.”
“Hi. I was wondering if you could get me a rat?”
“You’re quick off the mark, aren’t you?”
Harriet exhaled through her nose. “Sure. I mean, I guess. I’ve been here for almost a day, so…”
“Hey, I’m not judging. Have you got something to trade? What’s your power?” He tugged up his trousers, which immediately slipped down again. Their clothes all seemed to come along with them when they died, which Harriet thought was interesting. It was as if people’s clothing was an extension of their spirit.
