"She just popped out of nowhere. One moment there was no one there and the next minute she's standing watching us."
"She used glamour. Perhaps she has more control that we've given her credit for."
"Katherine was emotional, it's understandable. I didn't get time to say anything that would soften the blow. She was just there. I don't think Katherine could believe her eyes at first. It was just so unexpected."
"How did she take it?"
"Badly. She blamed me, shouted at Alex, called me every name under the sun. Yes, I think it went entirely as expected," I sighed.
"And what about Alex?"
"That's the problem. I thought she'd gone off in a huff — come back here to sulk in her room. She's not there, I just looked. I was hoping that maybe she'd be in here, talking to you."
"How did she know where you were going?"
"Good question. But if she has enough control to master her glamour then she could have overheard all manner of things. She could have been there while I was talking to Tate. Maybe she overheard the conversation with the driver? Either way, she followed me to the meeting, or maybe she was there before me? I don't know."
"This is why we treat people with power as adults, Niall. Once they have power they have to grow up."
"Yes, well, she's had exceptional circumstances. It's been hard for her."
"It's hard for everyone. What will you do?"
"Do? I'll have to talk to Katherine. She might try and go home, which is what I was trying to avoid. Garvin won't want a public scandal and Alex is supposed to be dead. If people start seeing her near her house, there'll be ghost stories, TV crews… it'll get out of hand."
"What about Alex?"
"I owe her an apology."
"Really?" Blackbird raised an eyebrow.
"I suppose. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but whatever it was, it wasn't right for her. I failed her."
"No, Niall, you didn't fail her, but an apology would be the beginning of a new stage of your relationship. You're starting to think of her as an adult."
"I need to find her first."
"Not if she doesn't want to be found."
"I found her before." I found her when no one else could.
"Yes, but she wanted to be found. Now she wants some time alone. You're finding it hard to adjust to these changes, Niall, so how must she be feeling? She's growing up fast, and she's starting to understand that her parent's relationship isn't what she wants it to be. That's part of growing up too."
"I can't just let her run around loose. What do I tell Katherine?"
"Tell her you don't know where she is."
"She'll freak."
"Let her. It's not your fault, Niall. At least not all of it."
"Gee, thanks."
"I mean it. You bear the world on your shoulders, as if everything is your fault. You take responsibility for things that are outside of your control. You need to stop doing that, Niall, or you are going to drive yourself mad."
"My daughter is my responsibility."
"First and foremost she is her own responsibility. She is an adult, and if you treated her like one then she would probably be here now."
"You sound like Garvin."
"Rue the day I hear those words spoken again."
"Speaking of whom, I ought to go and find him. Amber said he was looking for me."
"Never a good sign," said Blackbird.
I stood up. My son gurgled and then wee started spraying from his nether parts. "Aaaah! Get a nappy!"
Blackbird calmly flicked the towel across so it damped down the spray and wrapped him into the towel. "Perfect," she said, nuzzling him. "We just get you clean and dry and look what you go and do?" He gurgled in response. "Come on, we'll go and find a nappy while your father goes and finds Garvin. I know which I'd rather do."
I left and headed downstairs to find my boss.
She could have gone back to the courts, but why walk back into a prison?
Oh, they called her a guest and they treated her well, but she knew a prison when she saw one. You could tell as soon as you tried to leave. She knew that all freedoms must be won, that all concessions must be fought for. Well, she was free. With the Ways at her disposal she could go anywhere she wanted.
She needed a direction. If she went down the Way without any clear idea of where she was going she knew she would be lost, and you could lose more than your sense of direction on the Ways. Fionh had drummed that into her, at least.
What did she want? She wanted her clothes, her things, her music. She wanted the things that made life bearable. Well, she knew where they were. It was just a matter of taking them. It wasn't stealing, they were her things, after all.
She stepped onto the Way, immersing herself in the rush as she hopped from one node to another. It was like skateboarding, only without grazed knees, and if you fell — well, you were falling anyway. She stepped from node to node, tracking southwards, following her limited sense of direction. It was only when she emerged in a park where the roads were patrolled by red buses and black taxis that she realised the she'd overshot and passed the suburb where she lived — where she used to live — some time ago. She was somewhere in London.
She'd been into London on many occasions, but rarely on her own. There was the time when she ran away from home, when she'd ended up at her dad's. The first thing her dad did was ring her mum and tell her that Alex was there. So much for teaching her mum a lesson. So much for running away.
She could use the Underground, though. She walked across the park and approached a lady in a smart suit and high heels.
"'Scuse me, but where's the tube station?"
The woman looked at her like she'd crawled out from under a rock and then walked away. How rude could you get? She'd only asked for directions. There was no need to treat her like that.
Alex continued walked across the park, finding that people changed track to avoid her. She shook her head. City people were so rude. She walked across the road and headed down the street to the corner, trying to get her bearings. As she reached the cross-street she could see the familiar outline of the BT Tower above the buildings. She wasn't far from the centre then. Not far from Oxford Street, and shops, and cappuccino bars.
She turned and headed towards the BT Tower and civilisation. As she walked she went past a bookshop and glanced sideways into the large window. Her reflection met her gaze. No wonder they walked away from her. My God, she looked a fright. Reflexively her hand patted her pockets for a comb to tame her unruly curls. The water hadn't helped, and anyway, these days her hair tended to have a mind of its own you.
A man appeared in the shop doorway wearing a polo shirt with the shop's logo emblazoned on it. "Go away, you're putting the customers off!"
She gaped at him. Putting them off? How dare he! There was an echo of a rumble, beneath the ground. Alex could feel the water far below her, feel it wanting to burst upwards and engulf the man and his stupid shirt.
"Get lost! Shoo!" He affected a two-day stubble that was so carefully cultivated. He obviously loved himself.
Alex, lifted her chin. The rumbling below her subsided. "Why don't you… take your stupid books and your stupid half-a-beard, and your stupid shirt with its stupid logo, and go and fuck yourself?"
The man bristled, but he didn't leave the doorway.
"It's a public footpath, isn't it?" she said, "You can't stop me. I've got as much right to be here as you have, prick!"
"Right, that does it. I'm calling the police!"
"Help yourself," she said, fussing with her hair in the windows reflection. "By the time they get here I'll be long gone and they'll think you're as big a prick as I do."
He made a big show of going inside and picking up the phone, glaring at her through the half-reflection of the window as he punched the numbers. Alex was guessing that with the other hand he was holding the phone closed — that type were all show.