The Citadel and the Wolves (8 page)

Mum, daddy and Tommy too were standing at the bottom of the stairs to greet me. My eyes strayed to it briefly.

“Many happy returns, Jade,” the others chorused cheerfully.

“Fade!”

I laughed happily as I gave Tommy a big, wet kiss on the lips. Then I kissed the others on the cheek.

I hesitated, standing in front of the large, oblong box that was covered in brightly coloured gift wrapping paper in the hall.

“Go on, you’re dying to,” prompted Wendy impatiently.

The others watched amused as I ripped away the wrapping paper excitedly. Tommy decided to join in because he liked this game, ripping up paper. There was an illustration of an Electro Scoot MK2 on the box and the wording:

ELECTRO SCOOT ELECTRIC SCOOTER MK2

MADE IN THE USA

Daddy cut the industrial size staples that held the heavy cardboard box together with a pair of heavy duty clippers. I opened the side of the box. When I saw it for the first time, I caught my breath. It was beautiful, all new and gleaming metal. I loved the smell of the leather saddle. I touched it reverently. I hugged daddy with my grateful tears. Then I hugged the others too including Tommy, who was enjoying all these hugs and kisses from his big sister. The others helped me remove it from all the packaging inside the box that had protected it on its long journey from the USA to me.

Wendy sat behind me as I rode the new Electro Scoot MK2 on the pavement for the first time outside our house. We laughed loudly.

Oh, yes, my other birthday presents: Wendy got me a bottle of Chanel, which surprised and delighted me. It’s very expensive perfume. I only briefly thought that it might be a bribe. Like me, she saves up her Saturday job money. She works on the checkout in a local supermarket. Tommy’s present was the real surprise though. He’d got me a plastic clockwork mouse. It’s what I’ve always wanted. He chose the gift himself when he was in town with mum. I gave him another hug and kiss.

“Tommy loves Fade,” he declared.

“Fade loves Tommy.”

When we rubbed noses, the others laughed.

I stood my birthday cards on the sideboard in the sitting room before I breakfasted with the others.

“Looking forward to the party tonight, Jade?” inquired mum unnecessarily.

“Much,” I answered through a mouthful of breakfast cereal.

I noticed it for the first time, and it puzzled me.

I sat in the back seat with Wendy as daddy gave us a lift to school in the Jeep. He constantly checked his mirror. Although our father is a careful driver, especially when he’s got Wendy and I in the back, I’d not seen him using the mirror so much as now. We were driving along Brooks Wood Grove, which is a quiet, residential road of pretty, painted semi-detached houses that were built at the end of the 19
^th
century. A few vehicles including a white tradesman’s van were parked on either side, but there wasn’t much traffic about. We were travelling at around 20-30 kph. We slowed down when a small, red car pulled out of a side road. It was rather odd. What was daddy looking at? I was intrigued. I turned my head, looking over my shoulder. I didn’t see anything. The road behind us was clear. Perhaps it was my imagination. I glanced at Wendy. She hadn’t noticed anything unusual because she was too busy playing with her mobile, sending text messages to all her friends at school including, I suspected, the obnoxious Kevin Willis. When daddy checked his mirror again, I did likewise. I saw the green car for the first time. It hadn’t been there a moment ago. Maybe it was nothing. The car, a Japanese hydrogen fuel cell motor vehicle (the new electric car) had probably turned out of a side road somewhere back there. It was nothing.

We joined the heavy, rush hour traffic on Streatham High Road. It was always a bit of a bottleneck in the mornings. We got stuck behind a bus, which in turn was stuck behind a truck or whatever. I wondered if we were going to be late. Daddy is a schoolteacher. Would he be late for his classes? When he checked his mirror, I did likewise. What was I looking for? What was he looking for? A big biscuit lorry with a picture of a young girl pretending to enjoy a very sugary (not good for your teeth and gums) biscuit on the side was stuck behind us, so I couldn’t see anything else. The lights ahead of us changed. We were on the move once more…slowly.

When we finally swung out of the high road onto the long Leigham Court Road, (taking us up to Crown Point and West Norwood) having lost five or six minutes of our journey time, the traffic was a little lighter, and we were able to make up for lost time. Daddy, who had been driving since he was seventeen, smoothly let out the clutch. The Japanese Jeep responded well. She was new. She was only a year old. Daddy buys a new car every two or three years. We put on a little spurt by the common with a stretch of clear road ahead of us. I caught him again as he checked his mirror once or twice. I waited a moment or two this time before I looked over my shoulder, observing the traffic behind us, a big, red bus and a plain, white van. It was electric, I thought. The lights changed against us at Crown Point. I let out a sigh, opened my bag, and took out a packet of mints. I offered one to Wendy. She shook her head. I sucked a mint. When daddy checked his mirror again, I did likewise over my shoulder. The traffic behind us at the lights hadn’t changed, white van, big, red bus…then I spotted it. The green car was tucked in behind the bus. It was probably just a coincidence. They were obviously going our way. Half of South London was probably going our way. I dismissed the other idea from my mind, though I had to be sure of it. As the lights changed, we turned down Knight’s Hill from Crown Point towards West Norwood. I watched our back curiously. The white van went straight ahead while the bus turned with us, pulling in at the stop by the parade of little, independent shops on top of the hill. But where was the green car? They had vanished.

Daddy dropped us off outside the school gates. We waved as he pulled away.

He was behaving strangely this morning. I wanted to know why. I waited outside the school gates a few moments after he’d driven away. I had to test a theory of mine, but I also hoped that I was wrong. When the green car turned the corner and swept by, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I’d been right. Someone had been following us!

I caught up with Wendy again on the main spiral staircase in the school building, the toppling teapot or watering can.

“What was that all about, Jade?” asked Wendy, who was unaware of anything going on.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Jade!”

Kevin Willis joined us. I groaned inwardly.

“Many happy returns, Jade,” said Kevin.

“Thank you, Kevin,” I replied wearily.

I was going to get this for the rest of the day, and I blamed my sister because she had announced my 14
^th
birthday to the rest of the world and his brother by pinning it up on the school notice board. I could boil her brain sometimes.

“This is for you, Jade.”

Kevin gave me a little present and a birthday card.

“Thank you, Kevin.”

Then he kissed me on the lips, embarrassing me. It was like being kissed by a wet flannel. ZOOTWOSOME! And much more besides.

As I put his little present and birthday card away in my bag, Wendy nudged me.

“Er…Kevin, you’re-you’re invited to my birthday party tonight,” I said between gritted teeth.

He was delighted. “That’s wicked, Jade.”

I murmured.

Wendy and I vanished into the school library. We had a few minutes of free time before class, so we caught up on some homework. There was something that I was trying to remember. What was it now? I got down to some science homework. How many galaxies were there in the known universe? No one knew for sure. Perhaps we would never know.

“Jade, aren’t you gonna open it then?” asked Wendy, who fidgeted in her chair.

“Pardon?”

“Kevin’s present.”

“I’m not bothered, Wendy,” I answered without looking up, scribbling in my science book with my ball point.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what he’s bought you, Jade?”

“No.”

“Let me.”

“Please yourself.”

Wendy took my bag.

I couldn’t concentrate. It wasn’t Wendy. It was the green car that bothered me. Was it really following us this morning? If it was, why? Perhaps I already knew the answer.

I looked up when Wendy giggled.

“He’s bought you a troll.”

We text in our homework.

Then I noticed the papers in my open bag. PAPERS! I’d remembered what it was now. Oh, DROKK! I thought.

I’d left Wendy looking puzzled in the school library as I flew down the crowded corridor of early morning with my bag. I ignored one or two frowns as I jostled them in my haste to be somewhere else before class. I’d promised daddy earlier that I’d drop off the very important papers as a matter of urgency when I got in. I’d nearly forgotten. I blamed the green car. I blamed Kevin Willis, and finally, I blamed Wendy, for they were all distractions. I turned the corner at the end of the long corridor. I ran down a short flight of stairs to a door. I hesitated. The sign in large, red letters on it said:
‘STAFF ONLY, STRICTLY NO ADMITTANCE.’
I ignored it. The other coming out of a side entrance frowned when she saw me. I ignored her too because I was on very important business here. I stopped outside the blue door, caught my breath and adjusted my clothing a little nervously. I was about to tap on the door when it opened. He smiled warmly when he saw me.

I waited breathlessly in Mr Whitehouse’s little office that was cluttered with all sorts of things including old papers and books. Simon was sitting behind his desk. He was looking through the papers that I’d given him a moment before with a frown on his face. Daddy and Simon were working closely together now on the comet project. They had become good friends too. Daddy had normally emailed Simon data on the comet, yet this particular morning he had not. He wanted me to deliver the data, which he had printed off his computer, by hand, puzzling me. I thought of the green car briefly. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been puzzled.

I was suddenly troubled. “It’s getting closer, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” whispered Simon.

I wore an extremely surprised and puzzled look on my face when Simon handed it over to me.

Dismissing green cars and men in long raincoats from my mind, Wendy and I spent the lunch hour at a burger restaurant, giving the school dinner hall a miss again. I ordered a double burger, fries and a cold Coke. Wendy made do with a box of chicken nuggets and a Coke. We found an empty table by the window. As the heavy traffic thundered by, I wrote a letter to my pen friend in the States. She writes about once a month. I’ve told her about the comet. She thinks it’s all a bit ‘scary.’

“Secret admirer?” enquired Wendy who was being nosy as usual.

I shook my head. “Girlfriend from the States.”

“What do you write about?”

“Stuff.”

“Be specific.”

“The comet and other things.”

When she giggled, I ignored her.

Wendy and I were returning from our lunch when Cynthia Drake, the head girl, approached us in the school corridor. She was a tall girl with dark, shoulder length hair. She suffered from zits. But she was rather pretty in an odd sort of way. Perhaps she too was an alien. Wendy and I were puzzled. What had we done now?

“Jade Robinson, the deputy directress would like to see you in her office now,” said Cynthia Drake sternly.

My heart sank.

The desk phone rang.

I sat nervously in Mrs Sweet’s office, which overlooked the school gardens. As I mentioned before, Mrs Sweet is the deputy directress at St. Jude’s. We rarely came into contact with Mr Reese, the school’s director. Her name didn’t reflect her nature. She wore a permanent scowl on her wrinkled face. The other girls had nicknamed her ‘Sourpuss.’ I let my mind wander. I found myself staring curiously at her missing right thumb! (You thought I was joking, didn’t you?) How did it happen? Perhaps it was some kind of accident. Or maybe she bit it off when she was a little girl! On the other hand, (HEHE!) where she comes from, everybody has probably got a missing right thumb! My wandering mind returned. I wondered what this was all about. I began to feel hot and bothered inside my school uniform. I knew that I was in some kind of trouble. I wouldn’t have been summoned to her office otherwise. GULP!

As she finished the call, she put the phone down. I glanced at her left hand. She didn’t wear a wedding ring, so there was no Mr Sourpuss, which didn’t surprise me. But why did everyone at the school including me call her
Mrs Sweet?
She became aware of me again, drawing me into her strange, reptilian eyes. I suddenly felt like a tiny insect that was about to be eaten alive by a large lizard.

She spoke, “Robinson, I want you to stop this silly nonsense at once.”

I was confused. “Miss?”

“For sometime now, you’ve been alarming pupils at this academy with your wild talk of a giant comet hitting the earth from outer space.”

Oh, that, I thought with a sinking feeling.

Mrs Sweet added, “I’ve had numerous complaints from parents whose children have had nightmares over this. (Me too!) This foolishness must cease at once, Robinson. Do I make myself absolutely clear?”

I made the mistake of challenging her authority, defending everything my father stood for. “But, Miss, I’m not lying,” I said defiantly. “It’s true. It’s going to happen. My father is a scientist and an astronomer. His story appeared in a science magazine recently.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I am well aware of your father, Robinson.”

I glared at her. What did she mean by that?

“Robinson, you’re a bright, hard-working pupil at St. Jude’s. We wouldn’t want to lose you over something as trivial as this,” she warned darkly.

Expulsion suddenly loomed large.

Her eyes softened. “I do understand what your father is trying to do, Robinson.”

Do you? I thought angrily.

“But my responsibility is to the whole school, and I must take the parents’ worries and fears into consideration, so I would ask you to stop this. Don’t throw away all your good work at St. Jude’s, Robinson.”