Mrs Lambert could remember three occasions in her life when she lost the right words and one of them involved sexual intercourse. This made the fourth.
“Keira, please come down from there,” she finally managed to utter. Keira gracefully rejoined the rest of the human race on Terra Firma.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong. I am about as surprised as one could ever be.”
“I thought you might be.”
Mrs Lambert glanced in some annoyance at Shannon, who was still praying.
“Shannon, dear, please belt up, you’re not helping!”
Shannon stopped abruptly and reopened her eyes appearing surprised that Keira was back on the ground.
“Both of you; my study, now, and with as little noise as possible; that applies to you particularly, Shannon!”
A few minutes later, both girls were feeling uncomfortable, sitting in the comfy chairs in Mrs Lambert’s study. The door was closed, and the curtains drawn; a small haven of light in an otherwise dark night.
The lady herself was standing behind the desk, holding the curtain open a crack so she could stare out of the window with her back to the girls. If she was honest, Mrs Lambert was at a loss. It was rare, but she was genuinely unsure as to how best to proceed.
She turned and looked at the girls.
“I have to be honest and to tell you that I am not sure how to play this. You have me stumped!”
“May I make a suggestion?” Keira asked.
“Of course.”
“Well, I do not wish my abilities to become general knowledge, and I certainly do not feel that we should attract any adverse publicity to the college, so perhaps we ought to simply sort this little mystery out and ensure the appropriate authorities do what they are paid to do and are none the wiser after the event.”
“I think that sounds like an excellent idea. I think we need to flesh it out before it becomes a proper plan, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“May I ask a question?” she asked the girl.
“Yes.”
“This is all a little surreal for me. I mean, I’ve read about superheroes in comics and in films, so it’s a little difficult to comprehend that they are not pure fiction. Just what are your abilities?”
“I’m not like a real superhero, as I’m still sort of learning my way. There’s no one to teach me.”
“That’s as may be, you can still do things that most of us can’t. What can you do?”
“She can fly!” said Shannon.
“No, that’s not really true. I can adjust gravity and make really long jumps. It’s not flying, as such.”
“Is this how you travelled all that way?” Mrs Lambert asked.
“And she carried me!” added Shannon.
Keira looked at her crossly.
“Shannon, shut up, please!”
“Thanks. Now, I can jump, and I think that I’m bulletproof. I can also move very heavy stuff with the power of my own mind.”
“Like?”
“She can move cars!”
Shannon subsided as both regarded her with unforgiving expressions.
“I really don’t know my limitations. As I said, I’m still feeling my way here.”
“May I ask how you come to be graced with such abilities; are they inherited from your parents?”
“No.”
“Well?”
“I’m not sure, but I think they come from my torc.”
Mrs Lambert regarded the torc from afar.
“Why?”
“They don’t work when I’m not wearing it.”
“Fair enough. Best you keep it on then. We don’t want it going missing, now, do we?”
Keira looked surprised.
“Why do you look so surprised? Don’t you know how many girls have dreamed of possessing the very powers that you now possess, and yet in this boring old world, what is the most likely thing to happen? I’ll tell you; the bloody government, who have displayed an innate ability to get everything wrong, will steal it and try to work out how it works, and probably break it in the process, rending it completely bloody useless, just like themselves! What we have to do is to divert all attention away from the true power, and allow you the freedom to grow and develop and to be able to do all those wonderful things that most of us can only dream about.”
Both girls stared at Mrs Lambert in complete surprise.
She smiled.
“I was young once and was able to dream with the best of them. Now, let’s make a plan!”
* * *
Omar made the mistake in telling Laila, his wife, that he suspected that the boy called Ben was a terrorist.
“I know that we don’t like him, but that doesn’t make the man a terrorist,” she said, not unreasonably under the circumstances.
“I don’t believe that that is his real name either!” he persisted.
His wife was long-suffering and patient, so she smiled gently and let him have his rant.
“I told the police he was a terrorist,” he finally admitted.
That was enough, and his wife turned on him.
“You what?”
Feeling the abrupt change in the tone of her voice, he felt immediately defensive.
“Well, he threatened me,” he said.
“You stupid, bloody, idiot. That is the sort of thing that will lose any hope we have for Shamin to make a decent marriage. Oh, I hope to God she never gets wind of this, or you can wave goodbye to all our hopes and dreams. What did the police say?”
“I don’t think they believed me.”
“Why not?”
It was then that Omar admitted to offering Ben a substantial amount of money to leave his daughter.
Liala went ballistic, accusing him of utter stupidity and a complete lack of thought.
“Did you tell the police about this offer?”
“I might have mentioned it in passing; I can’t really remember,” he said.
“Of course you did, which is why they didn’t believe you.”
“But he threatened me!” Omar wailed.
“Oh yes, and I don’t suppose you threatened him at all?”
Omar was silent.
“Oh, tell me you didn’t?”
“I might have suggested that I had friends who might make his life difficult.”
“I don’t wonder the boy doesn’t go to the police and report you for being a terrorist!”
Omar was shocked.
“But he said things, about killings he’s done before. He was quite graphically unpleasant.”
“You just pray that Shamin doesn’t hear about this.”
Shamin did, because Ben decided to tell her.
“Your father offered me a lot of money to leave you,” he told her after a few days.
It was Saturday morning and they were waiting at Waterloo rail station for the ‘technician’ who was supposed to be arriving on the 11.32.
“When?”
“After I took the van back, he was waiting for me at the flat.”
“He must have waited for me to go to work. How much am I worth, then?”
“His first offer was fifty grand, but I sensed he would double it if I was interested. I told him he could offer me a million and I still wouldn’t take it.”
Shamin tried to work out how she felt. On the one hand, her parents had struggled to give her and her brothers everything they could, but on the other hand, they had failed to maintain what she considered an honourable lifestyle. They had succumbed to a quasi-Western/Asian culture that encompassed the lesser qualities of each, notoriously pride and greed. They also paid lip-service to their Islamic heritage, for which she felt betrayed by them.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, but in a way I am. What did he say when you turned him down?”
“He told me that he had friends and that he could make my life difficult if I didn’t cooperate.”
That made her feel slightly sick.
“So, you threatened him back?”
“I told him what I would do.”
She covered her ears.
“Enough! I don’t want to hear any more. I wash my hands of them; you are my family now!” she said.
Ben smiled. A small triumph tasted well in his mouth.