The Forest of Lost Souls (29 page)

D
RAGOMIRA
WAS LOOKING OUT OF HER LIVING-ROOM
window with her forehead pressed against the cold pane. She was holding Abakum’s hand so tightly that her knuckles looked like they might burst through the skin at any moment. Two floors down, in the tiny garden in front of the house, Oksa was giving her father a hard time. Dragomira listened carefully.

“Can’t I go back tomorrow?” her granddaughter groaned. “Please, Dad!” Dragomira watched Pavel move closer to his daughter. He looked exhausted.

“Tomorrow won’t be any easier than today,” he murmured sadly. “It might even be worse,” he added, glancing up at the window where Dragomira was standing.

Baba Pollock stepped back, shaking with shock. Her son’s eyes were filled with a destructive rage as if he were being consumed from within by dark flames. Dragomira put her hand over her mouth and stifled a sob.

“You couldn’t have done any more than you did,” said Abakum, gently putting his hand on her shoulder. “You did your best, but you didn’t have a chance against three of them.”

“Did you see his eyes? He hates me, Abakum! My son hates me!”

“No, he doesn’t, he’s just upset.”

They heard the low, wrought-iron gate clang shut. Dragomira shivered and slumped in her old crimson velvet armchair.

“It’s too hard…” said the old lady, her blue eyes brimming with tears. “We’re not strong enough. Sometimes I just want to give up.”

“Even if we wanted to give up, you know we can’t,” retorted Abakum. “No one can change their destiny,” he insisted, watching Oksa
disappearing
down the street. “The Ageless Ones have spoken and you know what that means. You can’t escape your fate. No one can.”

Oksa was striding along the damp pavement. Gus, who was struggling to keep up with her, kept shooting worried glances at his friend. She didn’t look well—she had purple bags under her eyes, her skin was pale and she was breathing as if something heavy was pressing on her chest. She tried to kick a sheet of newspaper out of her way but it stuck to her shoe, which infuriated her. She shook her foot to dislodge it and, when she couldn’t, she opened her hand and muttered a few angry words. The sheet of newspaper immediately burst into flames in front of some bemused passers-by.

“Oksa!” shouted Pavel, catching them up.

At the sight of his daughter’s tear-filled eyes, he thought better of telling her off.

“All this rubbish lying around really gets on my nerves,” she raged, then gave a despairing sob.

“Hey!” exclaimed Gus, elbowing her. “Don’t tell me you’re crying over a sheet of newspaper!”

Oksa gave him a miserable look and dissolved into tears. Her father hugged her tightly, stroking her dishevelled hair comfortingly with his hand.

“I don’t care about that rotten newspaper!” she cried.

“I know, darling, I know…”

“And my tie’s too tight!” she whispered, yanking at the knot. “I’m suffocating!”

Pavel looked at her sadly and loosened her navy and burgundy
uniform
tie.

“You’ve got to be strong. Like all of us,” he murmured, glancing over at Zoe, who was silently standing a few feet away.

“Come on!” said Gus. “A ninja never shows her feelings, even in an uncomfortable uniform. Anyway, you look okay in a pleated skirt—it shows off your pipe-cleaner legs!”

“I’ll give you pipe-cleaner legs!” she said, scrubbing her cheeks dry with the back of her sleeve.

Keeping her eyes fixed on Gus, she twirled her hand. Gus’s jet-black hair immediately flopped over his face as if blown by a sudden gust of wind. Gus brushed it away with a menacing growl, promising to pay Oksa back. This brought a smile to Oksa’s face and a light to her eyes. She looked gratefully at Gus and her father, but didn’t feel brave enough to look at Zoe, whom she sensed was staring coldly at her. She felt a little embarrassed: Zoe had to be as upset as she was, but she wasn’t showing it. Zoe hadn’t shown any emotion since the revelations by the Ageless Ones. She hadn’t shed a single tear or said a word about the secret they’d been told, even though it had far-reaching implications for her. Oksa was really bothered by this behaviour. How could Zoe be so dispassionate when she’d just found out why Leomido, her grandfather, had died? Picking up her bag, Oksa couldn’t help glancing at Zoe. For a second, she thought she caught a look of indescribable pain, rage and fear in Zoe’s eyes but she must have imagined it, since the next minute Zoe’s face was as calm and unassuming as ever. Oksa blinked to banish this unsettling impression.

“We’d better get a move on, hadn’t we?” she exclaimed, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Or we’ll be late because of all the fuss you’ve been making…”

Gus shot a glance at Zoe, pretending to look scandalized. She shrugged
in amusement at Oksa’s tendency to embroider the truth.

“Let’s go, then,” agreed Pavel dully.

O
KSA AND
G
US PAUSED BY THE GATES THAT LED INTO
the impressive courtyard of St Proximus. It had been three months since they’d walked under this arch.

“Ready?” said Gus, trying to sound enthusiastic.

“Ready…” sighed Oksa. “See you later, Dad.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Pavel reassuringly.

Oksa tossed her head and walked in, followed by Gus and Zoe. They were immediately the object of intense scrutiny.

“Great…” sighed Oksa in annoyance.

“OKSA! GUS!”

A curly-haired boy rushed over to greet them, looking delighted.

“Merlin!” cried Oksa.

Before Oksa could do or say anything, Merlin gave her a resounding kiss on each cheek then, red as a beetroot, he declared joyfully:

“It’s so fantastic to see you… both!” he added, flushing even redder. “How are you? You’re—”

“—alive!” broke in Oksa, biting the inside of her cheek.

“You’ll tell me all about it, won’t you?” went on Merlin, in a confidential tone. “I’m dying to hear what happened!” Oksa nodded gravely.

“I’m so pleased to see you!” repeated Merlin, his cheeks still scarlet. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life!”

Oksa smiled as Gus elbowed him in the ribs.

“What’s happened to your voice?” he teased. “It doesn’t seem to know whether it’s high or low.”

“Tell me about it!” replied Merlin, not sounding fazed at all. “It’s like being on a vocal rollercoaster. I think I’ve hit every single octave!”

Oksa and Gus burst out laughing, temporarily forgetting their
concerns
. A few minutes later, Zelda and the other students joined them and began plying them with questions.

“What kind of illness did you have? Was it malaria? Or some kind of tropical disease?”

“Was it contagious? Were you delirious? Did you have
hallucinations
?”

“Someone said you were in Borneo? Is it nice there? Did you see any wild animals?”

To the two friends’ great relief, the bell for class rang.

“Saved by the bell!” whispered Merlin, pulling them towards the cloister surrounding the courtyard.

Oksa pretended to mop her forehead and grinned at him. The boy cleared his throat and started walking through the paved arcade.

“Merlin?”

“Yes, Oksa?” he replied, turning round.

“Thank you. For everything.”

At those whispered words, Merlin’s heart burned as hot as his cheeks. Open-mouthed with surprise, he blinked at Oksa and leant against the wall, feeling suddenly light-headed.

“You… you will tell me everything, won’t you?”

“Promise!” she murmured.

Their first morning back at school was much more enjoyable than Gus and Oksa had feared. They avoided morning break because they were
kept inside by Miss Heartbreak, who wanted to help them catch up on their school work.

“You’ve missed a lot, but you can still make up for lost time if you work hard,” she said reassuringly.

“I know someone who’s going to stuff herself with Excelsior Capacitors, while her so-called ‘best friend’ has to slog to catch up,” Gus muttered to Oksa.

“What are Excelsior Capacitors?” enquired their teacher.

“Oh…” replied Oksa, without batting an eyelid. “They’re a stimulant to help the brain work more efficiently. It’s one of my gran’s secret recipes,” she added, glaring at Gus who was staring at her in disbelief.

“Oh, I see…” replied Miss Heartbreak, smiling. “Nothing illegal, I hope?”

Oksa smiled back.

“They’re completely natural, honest!”

Miss Heartbreak went through their course books, showing them the lessons they needed to cover. Listening distractedly, Oksa suddenly noticed Zelda standing by the classroom window that gave onto the balustraded corridor. Their classmate was staring solemnly in their
direction
and a wave of nausea and exhaustion suddenly washed over Oksa. Feeling that she was being watched, Miss Heartbreak turned round to look and Oksa saw her shiver. When Oksa glanced over at the corridor again, Zelda had vanished as quickly as she’d appeared. But the uneasy feeling remained… Gus looked at her questioningly.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered.

Oksa shrugged that she didn’t know, while Miss Heartbreak continued listing the classwork they had to do, as if nothing had happened. Only Oksa, observant as ever, noticed that their kind teacher was trying to stop her hands trembling…

This scene had set warning bells ringing in the Young Gracious’s head. For the rest of the day, she watched Zelda out of the corner of her eye, trying to work out what it was about her friend that was worrying her. When she mentioned it to Gus between lessons during the afternoon, he looking around cautiously and exclaimed:

“Zelda? No, I haven’t noticed anything strange. But have you seen Hilda the Cave-Girl? Now that’s what I call a transformation!”

“I’ll second that!” said Merlin.

“Are you talking about me?” asked Hilda, walking over with a slightly awkward but clearly flirtatious smile.

“Great,” groaned Oksa, turning round. “Oh, Hilda, that’s a bit of luck. We were just talking about the next women’s wrestling match!”

Hilda recoiled and looked so hurt that Oksa almost felt sorry for being rude.

“You don’t have to be nasty,” she said, sounding more upset than Oksa would have thought possible. “Not everyone’s lucky enough to be a Russian doll.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Oksa angrily, glaring at her.

“I mean that even girls who aren’t Russian dolls are allowed to speak to the fittest boys in the school,” retorted Hilda, with a defiant shove.

She straightened her jacket and sashayed slowly past Merlin and Gus who, at that precise moment, would have given anything to be a million miles away. Oksa watched her walk off in surprise and whistled between her teeth.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” remarked Zelda, suddenly appearing. “Some people just can’t hack adolescence!”

“Zelda!” scolded Merlin. “You’ve got to admit it’s better than before, don’t you think?”

Zelda looked at Hilda, sitting on a bench trying to look feminine, and then at Merlin, red-faced with embarrassment.

“You mean more absurd!” she retorted, then burst out laughing. “In fact, I think it’s pretty pathetic…”

With this, she bent down and picked up a pebble which she tossed towards the fountain in the centre of the courtyard. With remarkable accuracy, the stone flew through the air, hit the edge of the fountain and bounced onto Hilda’s shoe.

“Bull’s-eye!” crowed Zelda.

Oksa and Zoe exchanged a surprised glance, both struck by the same impression.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” whispered Oksa.