And All the Stars (13 page)

"But I want to draw–" Pan began, and broke off.

The glowing ball of light was changing shape.

Triangular strips opened out like the petals of an
unsymmetrical flower. The shortest
triangle pointed up, while two of equal length stretched left and right, with
the longest unfurling downward until the ball had become a different form of
star, four-pointed, glimmering white. An
uneven centre band of dark blue reminded Madeleine vaguely of the body of a
butterfly, though it was not actually separate from the rest of the star,
merely a concentration of colour which thinned out into a filigree lace of
veins.

"An angel!" someone shouted.

Madeleine blinked, but she could see the connection. The central band of blue could almost be a
narrow human outline, though one with feet which trailed to a point, and no
arms, or arms crossed on the chest. The
thing was shaped more like a kite than any angel, a fluidly rippling one
without any rigid frame. The weird,
oscillating noise came again, louder, and the star-kite moved, a lazy
undulation only a foot or so forward, sparking an immediate backward scatter
from its audience.

"How are we going to know if it's saying 'take me to
your leader'?" Pan asked.

"I agree with Nash," Noi murmured. "Let's–"

The star slid sideways, quick as a piece of paper caught by
the wind, turned in a moment and settled across the shoulders of a bulky,
sunburned guy, who tried and failed to dodge as it landed. For a moment it looked like a hooded cloak,
then it sank out of sight.

"The hell–?" Pan and Noi said in unison.

The sunburned guy stood unmoving, face blank, as the crowd
around him drew back. Then he blinked,
looked sharply left and right, lifted one hand and closed it, opened it.

"The noises are coming from him now!"

The sunburned guy looked toward the woman who had shouted,
and she flinched back, then firmed and asked angrily: "Why have you done
this? What do you
want
from
us?"

"To–" The
man paused, repeated the word, a stutter of sound, frowned then said clearly,
in a distinct Western Sydney accent, "To stand still."

"Stand...?"

"
Fuck
."

Pan pointed, the crowd turned. Then, as one, they ran.

ooOoo

The stars came from the east, dozens, hundreds, dropping out
of the sky.

Madeleine raced with Emily directly for the lifeguard tower
stairs, but the cross-current of people before her was too thick, and she
diverted left, angling for the nearest ramp off the sand. Almost a hundred metres from the shoreline,
those who had wisely left early were already jamming onto it, others diverting
again for the ramp further west. But
Tyler's car was right near the head of the first ramp, and Madeleine took a
frantic glance over her shoulder, trying to decide whether to forge into the
press or just dash west, and keep running.

The leading edge of stars were unfurling behind her, dropping
down onto the shoulders of those slowest to move. And one, distinctly brighter, bluer than the
rest, was so close, sliding unmistakably in her direction and she gasped and
snatched at Emily's hand and darted left, giving up the ramp in preference for
speed. But the things – kites,
butterflies, angels – moved faster than any runner.

The lightest touch, the breath of the sun.

A response roared inside her, an instinctive outflow, and she
found herself lifted off her feet, sailing forward to plough into the
sand. Around her others had been
similarly knocked down, and were struggling to their feet.

"
Shield!
"
Gavin shouted, staring back. "
You can shield! Shield against them!
"

The very blue star which had been chasing Madeleine had
curled partially closed and dropped close to the sand. The other stars were clustering toward it,
filling the air with their oscillating song. Noi grabbed Emily up and took off, and Madeleine was about to follow
when she saw Shaun. One of those she'd
knocked down, he was lying unmoving to her left, Nash trying to rouse him.

"Is he–?" With a frantic glance at the star cluster, she grabbed Shaun's arm and
tried to lift.

"I think shield paralysis," Nash said. "On two."

With desperate energy they lifted, Nash doing most of the
work until Gavin dashed back and helped.

"Can you shield again when they come?" Nash asked,
gasping with effort.

"I don't know! I'll try!" Their speed
carrying Shaun meant she would have to.

But the stars swooped past them to settle on runners on the ramp. As each runner was embraced they stopped
short, and the way was quickly becoming blocked.

"Go back past the lifeguard tower," Gavin
panted. "Up the wide stairs."

It was longer to run, but Emily was already standing at the
head of the lifeguard tower stair, signalling wildly and pointing east, so they
dog-legged back. And the stars passed
them.

"They're avoiding us!" Gavin said.

"They might be – tack left."

People were running toward them, some moving slow and
hesitant, but others picking up speed. Shaun's
rigidity abruptly lapsed, and he groaned and flinched in their hold, sending
them stumbling.

"
C'n
r'n
,"
he groaned, thrashing and gulping.

Remembering the agonies of the pins and needles, Madeleine
sincerely doubted it, but he surprised her, managing to at least make it easier
for Gavin and Nash to haul him.

Two women ahead were on an intercept course – they wouldn't
make it past them.

"Go straight through!" Nash ordered.

Madeleine shuddered, but knew they couldn't risk the delay of
a collision and held up one hand. Trying
not to think of twisted metal, of tumbled cars, she pushed some of the energy
inside her into a punch at the two women.

Their shields were just visible, a protective glimmer which
appeared as the punch struck them and sent one tumbling backward. The other was only knocked a little off
course, spun onto her knees, but this was enough to get them past and in sight
of the stairs. Emily was running along
the level above, Fisher trailing behind her, and they met in a group and dashed
up the next set of stairs to where Nick was waiting in the white hatchback, Pan
and a couple of other boys already crammed into the back seat.

"
Noi's
...coming..." Emily
gasped, and clutched Madeleine, trying to catch her breath as Nash and Gavin
helped Shaun into the car.

"Go!" Nash told Nick. "Meet you at
Rushies
."

"Keep moving," Gavin added, as Nick obediently tore
off, narrowly missing a small van trying to get past.

They ran all-out alongside the one-way road in front of Bondi
Pavilion, and Madeleine's legs were jelly, rubber bands, not forgiving the
energy cost of shields and punches, nor her general disinclination to run long
distances. She was falling behind, her
breath burning in her throat, but then there was a newly-familiar growl of
expensive engine and she straight-out dived into the rear seat of Tyler's car
as Noi slowed, then surged forward to collect the others, the car soon
over-crammed with panting, gasping escapees.

The undersized rear seat was not a good fit for Madeleine,
Fisher and Nash, particularly with Madeleine at the bottom. She wriggled out as Noi came to the end of
the long one-way street and slewed right onto the main road.

"Hook a left at Blair," Gavin recommended,
balancing Emily on his lap. "Are
they coming after us?"

Fisher stared back, his expression closed. "They don't seem able to move as fast as
a car," he said slowly. He looked
at Madeleine, currently sitting mostly on Nash's lap. "Did you do that on purpose?"

She shook her head.

"I think you hurt it," Gavin said. "They weren't keen to come near you
after."

"What do we do now?" Emily's voice was high.

"I don't see any other option than to get out of the
city," Noi said. "Even though
everyone's going to be totally paranoid about Blues and Greens, and there's a
huge chance of getting locked up if we're found. But better locked up than possessed. Did anyone from your school get taken?"

"Chris." Nash glanced at Fisher, but didn't find any answer in Fisher's puzzled
expression. "
Hammad
and Ryan were there as well, but I didn't see what happened to them."

"We've no way of knowing how much they can learn from
the people they take over. Language,
obviously, but they might know about your school from your friend."

Nash nodded. "We
need to warn everyone there – if they don't know already – then grab what we
can and go."

"This car has about a quarter of a tank left." Noi pushed down on the accelerator. "But we've been collecting car keys back
at Finger Wharf. And boats, though
they're probably not much advantage for getting away from flying balls of
light."

Emily distracted them then by pulling a bag of coconut ice
from the glove box and passing it around. In a car full of Blues this was an immediate silencer, and Madeleine was
particularly grateful, shaking as she grabbed a handful of pink and white
squares and worked her way through them.

At
Noi's
speed and with clear roads
it was a short trip to Rushcutters Bay, and Gavin directed them through a
wide-open iron gate to a small car park surrounded by clipped hedges and many-windowed
buildings. The white hatchback was there
waiting for them, its occupants clustered around Pan as he stood arguing with a
dozen boys holding cricket bats.

"I'm going to turn the car for a quick getaway,"
Noi said, after a brief survey.

She was speaking to empty seats, as Gavin and Nash were
already out and bounding forward. Fisher
was slower to move, glancing up into the sky before following.

"What the hell's this, Matt?" Gavin said, striding
up to confront a tall, tanned boy with brown hair. "We've got to move, not argue."

"
You've
got to move," the boy, Matt,
replied. "All you Blues. We won't stop you going, but there's no way
you're staying here when any of you could have one of those things inside
you."

"All us Blues?!" Gavin exploded. "What shit are you pulling now?"

"They're not interested in Greens, Gav," a
different boy said apologetically. "We were watching on TV, and they ignored all the Greens. They only went for Blues. Matt's right – even if none of you
are...whatever, there's too much chance you'll draw them here."

"And in what way are the cricket bats going to
help?" Nash asked, his beautiful voice mild yet commanding. "We are only here to warn you –
unnecessary as that is – and to get our bags and be gone. I would suggest you do the same."

He walked straight at the heart of the crowd, head high and
stride scornful, and they wavered, wilted, and stepped aside.

"Tossers," Pan muttered, following.

"Oh, eat it Rickard." The boy called Matt threw the cricket bat
after Pan, which was a mistake since Pan had been waiting for it, and the thick
wooden bat bounced spectacularly off his shield and through a window.

Nash whirled protectively to stand by Pan, and the two groups
tensed, but further words or action were cut short by Noi, leaning on the horn
of Tyler's car.

"Can we save the dick swinging until after we've escaped
from the aliens?" she shouted into the silence the horn left behind. "Seriously, Blue, Green, Purple,
whatever – now is the time for running and hiding. You think just because those things are only
possessing Blues they're going to happily ignore Greens? Go get your stuff,
all
of you, get
into cars, and get the hell out of the city!"

They listened. Within
moments only Noi, Madeleine and Emily remained in the car park.

"What were they thinking?" Emily asked, close to
tears. "A Blue could turn a Green
into a smear without even trying."

"They're afraid." Noi sighed, and ran a hand over her eyes. "When you're afraid, sometimes it's
easier to be angry."

Madeleine, suffering a raging thirst after her handful of
coconut ice, spotted a tap on one side of the car park and fished an empty,
dented water bottle out from her well-mashed shoulder bag. She was drinking thirstily when a thin,
oscillating sound made her gulp and then desperately try not to cough. Noi pulled Emily behind the nearest hedge and
ducked down and Madeleine followed suit, though the hedges near the tap were
half the height, forcing her to lie full-length between bush and building to
have any hope of concealment.

Eyes streaming from suppressed coughing, Madeleine peered up
through dense leaves, trying to track the source of the noise. Was there – yes. Floating lightly over the roof of the
building opposite was a ball of light. She pressed down into the dirt and leaf litter, sure she could hear an
echo of the thing's song. More than one
of them.

The memory of the lightest touch stopped her breath, and she
guessed, knew, that it was the same one, the bright, rich blue one which had
been so close. It had followed her, and
no amount of branch or leaf could hide her.

The song died down as the star moved further into the school,
giving no sign it was aware of three Blue girls. Madeleine lifted her head cautiously, but
across the car park Noi immediately made a lowering gesture. They would wait.

Boys began appearing. Three Greens, running straight through the gates without even glancing
around. One of the younger Blues who'd
been at the beach, slipping into the back seat of the white hatchback and
crouching down into the foot well, sitting his bag on top of him as partial
camouflage. Another group, all Greens,
piling into a four wheel drive and gunning the engine, waiting for a final
friend before roaring off, swerving around Tyler's empty car.

Pan and Nash emerged from Madeleine's side of the car park,
crossed without seeing her and paused beside the two driverless cars until Noi
beckoned them over for a hasty, whispered conference. Then, as Shaun, Gavin and Fisher appeared
among a large clump of Greens, she signalled a dash for the car.