"Where is she now, do you know?"
"Gina had an accident," Eve spoke from the stairway. "She bit off more than she could chew."
"You killed her," said Alex.
"She took something that wasn't for her. I simply took it back."
"And you killed her for that?"
"You killed Naylor," Eve pointed out.
"He was going to rape me!"
"Sometimes it's kill or be killed. I would have thought you'd understand that."
"She was one of us," said Alex. "She was at Porton Down."
"She was there, but she definitely wasn't one of us. You don't steal from your friends. You don't sell you friends out for drugs, money, sex or whatever else you want. We look after each other, because no one else looks after us." She walked over to stand in front of Alex. "And what about you Alexandre?"
"We didn't meet at Porton Down, did we? No one calls me Alexandre, except maybe my mum," she challenged.
"We did meet, or at least I saw you there. Three girls dead. It was in your file. That's quite a tally."
"That was an accident. How did you get access to my file?"
"Those girls, you drowned them, like you accidentally drowned Naylor?" asked Eve.
"How do you know about that?" asked Alex.
Eve studied her for a moment. "When everyone else ran, I stayed. While others screamed and died I went through files looking for what I needed. Why were you looking for Gina?"
"I dunno. I guess 'cause we're the same. We all went through the same things. I thought maybe she'd have somewhere I could hang out for a bit until I get my shit together."
"Why don't you go home to mummy?"
"Can't, can I? Burned that bridge."
Eve turned away and went to stand behind Chipper, looking over his shoulder out onto the desolate estate. She stood so close that Alex wondered whether they were an item.
"I need someone," she said, still staring out the window. "Gina died, not because she stole — though that was reason enough, but because she knew things — she'd done things. Through her treachery she proved that she would sell us out for a fix, or a bottle, or something she wanted, sooner or later. We couldn't risk that and she paid the price for her indiscretion."
She turned away from Chipper without touching him. No brush of affection, not even a sidelong look. "If you would even dream of selling us out, Alexandre, you would be better to leave now, while you can."
"Are you offering me a place to stay?"
"Here? No. This place is compromised. We only came back to retrieve certain items. We'll be gone soon and you won't be able to follow us."
"So where are you going?" asked Alex.
"We move around, but there are places that can provide what we need. The rules, as I think you already know, do not apply to us. Do what you wilt shall be the whole of the law."
"That's a line from a movie isn't it?" said Alex.
"Hardly," said Eve. "We are engaged in a struggle that goes beyond anarchism and political structure. We will change the world itself. Our goal is more fundamental than tinkering with the system. All of that will be swept away."
"Are you a bit bonkers?"
Eve turned on her like a snake, her eyes narrow, her voice squeezed out between her teeth.
"There are some who cannot encompass the vision of what we will do, and they may think it outlandish or impossible, but they are limited by their feeble imagination and stagnant ability. They are bound by convention and compromised by their own wants and needs. We are none of that, and we will change the world."
There was a fervour in her eyes that alarmed Alex, but she could hear that Eve believed it. She glanced sideways at Sparky. He shrugged, as if it was obviously true.
"What kind of change?" she asked.
Eve smiled. "This world was not made for us. We do not fit. We are not accepted in any part of it. We are alien and unwanted, rejected at a fundamental level. But what if that could be changed? What if we could remake this world as we want it?"
"I don't understand," said Alex.
"You don't need to," said Eve, "you just need to want it enough to be prepared to act. Sacrifices will need to be made. The only decision is which end of the sacrifice do you want to be on — the one making the sacrifice, or the one being sacrificed?"
"Is that a threat?"
"You can't change the world without changing everything," said Eve. "But you can decide which side of the change you're on. The world will change whether you like it or not. Work with us and you can be part of it."
Alex turned to Sparky. "Is she for real?"
He shrugged again. "I've seen some weird shit. Hell I've done some of it, but she's right. We don't fit. They're not going to change the world for us, so we have to change it for ourselves."
"This is your decision, Alexandre," said Eve. "You can walk away now and what will happen will happen. But if you stay, you're part of it."
Alex looked from Sparky, to Eve, to Chipper, who still stared resolutely out of the window.
"OK," said Alex. "I'm in."
TWELVE
The home of the Seven Courts isn't so big. Yes, there is the main house, the east and west wings, the solar, the garden, the orangery, the cellars, the stables, and the ice house, all of which is very grand and mostly deserted, but it isn't so big that you can permanently lose someone. Where, then, was Angela?
She and I had arrived unexpectedly, and there had been the session with the vision, and despite my less-than-optimal condition after that experience I distinctly remembered Garvin insisting that Angela would stay. So where was she?
The only signs of habitation in the west wing was where Alex had been staying and that was deliberately away from the other residents. I had been in all the rooms, even the pokey attics and servant quarters on the third floor, and there was no sign that anyone had been living there. The ground floor of the east wing was where a number of the staff were living, where the kitchens and laundry, the offices and the pantries were, and despite the curious looks from many of the staff when I poked into cupboards and crannies, I had not found her there either.
The upper floor was where Blackbird and I had our suite of rooms. I was sure I would know if anyone else was staying there, or in the rooms above. Even so, that didn't stop me looking.
After a circuit of the gardens, the orangery, the stables and the outbuildings I was starting to get irritated. Of course, I could go and ask Mullbrook where she was being housed, but that would get back to Garvin, but I might as well ask Garvin myself if that was the plan.
No, I wanted a conversation with Angela without Garvin's assistance and for that I needed to know where she was — unless she wasn't anywhere? It had crossed my mind that Garvin might simply be disposing of the people I brought back, but why go to all the trouble of bringing them in if you were going to kill them anyway? While Blackbird questioned Garvin's motives, I thought he was straight. Garvin did what Garvin said he would do. There was no pretence about him, and in this case, Garvin wouldn't waste the resources. He'd have someone kill them where they were and save time.
I walked back through the gardens, and went back to Alex's room in the west wing. I still hoped to walk in and find her on the bed, sulky and resentful, but that hadn't happened. I'd tried to locate her through the mirror, but she had shielded herself from me. My attempts had been met with a blank wall, which at least meant she was still alive. I dreaded the vague dissipation that occurred when I used my power to find someone and they were no longer findable. Losing her had been bad enough the first time, I didn't think I could deal with that again.
That didn't stop me using the same power to find Angela, though. I placed my hand on Alex's mirror and felt the glass chill under my hand.