Wanted (Flick Carter Book 1) (7 page)

Yeah, Disappeared.

‘Now I want you to look at them carefully…’

Adam’s hand hovered over one of the devices, but he hesitated. There was a Kingsman in the room after all.

‘Yes, you can go ahead and touch them.’ She said. ‘Pick them up, feel their weight.’

Adam picked up the device, turning it over in his hands and feeling it. He could feel her eyes watching him, studying his reaction, but nothing happened, no bolt of lightning from heaven striking him down. Gradually a grin returned to his face.

‘So what is all this stuff?’ he asked. ‘Can I have it? Take it home?’

‘No. Nothing leaves this room,’ she said, ignoring his first question.

When he finally came to the last item, the buggy with the bird’s wing on top, she said to him, ‘Pay special attention to this. I want you to tell me if you have ever seen anything like it. Or even just parts of it. Maybe the fabric has appeared in the market?’

Adam shook his head. ‘No, I ain’t seen any of this stuff. Not like this, only the old crap they’ve got upstairs.’ It was a risk swearing, especially in front of a Kingsman, but he was starting to feel his old self again.

‘Okay, don’t worry. But if you do see it, or something similar, I want you to come and find me, and tell me about it. Can you do that?’

Adam nodded. ‘Sure.’

‘Good,’ she said, ‘but don’t tell anybody about this room, or our little chat.’
 

He shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

She grabbed him, twisting him around. ‘Do you understand?’ she snarled, in his face.

Adam squeaked, ‘Tell nobody.’

‘Good.’ she said, voice back to normal. ‘It would be a real shame if, for any reason, you didn’t get into the Watch this summer. You’ve got such… potential.’ She held his gaze for several seconds, as if to bring home the point. Then she indicated the door. ‘Off you go.’

Flick had pounded away at the inn all day, doing chores and keeping herself distracted. She’d made one trip out to the south gate, but it was locked just as Stanley had said it would be. The two Watchmen on duty, Felix Patel and Stu Johnson weren’t regulars at The Crown and wouldn’t make an exception to let her though. Besides, leaving town with a big basket of supplies was sure to be suspicious. So she’d returned to the inn and worked out her frustration on mucking out the stable, and doing the laundry, and the cleaning.

Could Shea be the Scav the Kingsmen were looking for? She wouldn’t find out staying here in the inn. And what if he wasn’t? He was all alone in that cottage, with no food or drink other than what she’d left the night before, and no way to hunt or catch anything else to eat. She didn’t even know if he knew how to hunt. After all, what did Scavs eat?

There was nothing she could do but wait while the Kingsmen were still snooping around. She’d go to him as soon as she could, but that would most likely not be till tomorrow. By then he might be gone or caught or dead.

‘How was the museum today?’ Flick asked. The whole family was in the kitchen–Adam, Rosie, Flick of course, and their father–it was dinner time and they had just sat down to the evening meal of boiled mutton and potatoes. Flick swirled a lump of stale bread around her plate, mopping up the thin gravy.

‘It was great,’ Rosie offered. ‘We saw lots of books, not like the rough ones we get at school, these were proper ancient books from before The Collapse, with all printing and pictures and stuff, and machines, and they told us how the machines in the Dark Times had caused The Collapse and that was why no one is allowed to use them any more.’

Adam snorted. ‘They are just stories. I told you this morning, it’s all made up to scare little kids and make us do what they want.’

‘Adam, that’s enough,’ their father warned.

‘Well they are,’ he mumbled, drawing fierce looks from both Dad and Flick.

Rosie continued, ‘And they had scary monsters, like the one that jumps out of the wall at you. That was really scary.’

Flick laughed, ‘That is a trick, Ro honey, they do it with mirrors.’

‘Oh, well it was bloody scary anyway.’ Their father looked up and coughed. Rosie corrected herself, ‘Well, it was just scary then. And we saw the stone tools from prehistoric times. They were just like the ones you make, Flick, but I reckon yours are better.’

Flick smiled, ‘Well thank you, Ro, that’s very sweet. Come over here and give your big sister a hug.’
 

They hugged. ‘You didn’t make those tools in the museum, did you?’ Rosie asked, grinning.

‘No,’ laughed Flick, ‘but I did spend a lot of time looking at them when I was your age, and figuring out how they made them. That was when I started making them myself. There was an ancient book they read to us from, it had some quotes from famous old people in it, and one of them said, “Bang the rocks together, guys.” Well that’s exactly what I did.’ She made a banging motion with her hands, which ended up rather one handed with Rosie still in her arms, and they both laughed.

Flick looked down at Rosie and smiled. She loved her little sister more than anything. She loved Adam too, but Rosie was special; she was so like their late mum. She stroked her hair, ‘I’m glad you liked it.’

Adam finished up the food on his plate, and dropped his cutlery with a loud clatter.

Flick looked up. She couldn’t miss the annoyed look on Adam’s face, but she chose to ignore it. ‘And what about you Adam, did you like it?’ she asked, sweetly.
 

Adam fidgeted in his chair and looked down at his plate, ‘’S’ all right I suppose,’ he said.

Sensing something was wrong, Flick pressed him. ‘Is everything all right Adam? Are you having problems at school?’

‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘What was that Adam?’ Dad asked.

‘I said it was nothing I can’t handle,’ Adam said loudly. ‘I’m going to my room.’ Adam pushed his chair back and stomped out of the kitchen.

‘Well something must have upset him,’ Flick said.

Rosie looked up at Flick. ‘Promise you won’t tell I told you?’ she asked.

‘Of course, Ro,’ Flick said, still stroking her hair. ‘What is it?’

Rosie leaned over to whisper into Flick’s ear. ‘He was told off in Assembly this morning, for talking. Got sent to the headmaster’s study and everything. And there were two Kingsmen came and searched the school.’

There was silence while they took in that information. Flick’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Kingsmen, but she told herself it was ridiculous; there was no proof that Shea was the Scav they were looking for. It was just coincidence, surely.
 

Then their father stood up. ‘Time to get these dishes sorted; they won’t clean themselves,’ he said, and started stacking the plates. Flick nodded and went over to the stove to fetch a kettle of hot water.

Rosie stood up too. There was a shy little smile on her lips. ‘Dad, I’ve still got something to tell you all.’ They all stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

‘What is it, Rosie?’ Dad asked.

‘At school today,’ she began, ‘in class, teacher said I had to be Queen of the May.’

‘Oh honey, that’s absolutely marvellous!’ Dad said, hugging her and giving her a big kiss on the forehead. Flick beamed, and moved to join the hug. Then Dad said, ‘Adam really ought to hear this,’ and he yelled out through the door, ‘Adam, get down here. Rosie has something important to say!’

Rosie was still grinning broadly when Adam came through the door. ‘What?’

‘Go on Rosie, tell Adam what you just told us,’ said Dad.

‘I’m going to be Queen of the May,’ beamed Rosie, ‘I get to be crowned with a crown and everything!’

‘That’s nice,’ Adam grunted as he turned round and stomped off back to his room.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ asked Flick. ‘Okay, so he got told off at school. Big deal, he’s always being told off, and it’s never bothered him before. Not like this anyway.’

‘I’ll go up and talk to him,’ Dad said. ‘He might open up if we have a bit of man-time. Would you mind finishing up the dishes?’

‘Sure, me and Ro will do them, won’t we?’ Rosie nodded. ‘Come on Ro-Ro, we’ll have them done in no time.’

THE NEXT MORNING, Flick was up early. She had her bike loaded up with food and bottles of small beer from the pantry, and a spare small cooking pan.

‘Dad, I’m off out,’ she called out to the hallway.

‘Be back by curfew!’ came the response from somewhere upstairs.

On her way through town she stopped at the baker’s and bought a loaf of bread.
 

The town gate was open when she reached it, and Fred was huddled inside the little shack next to it, fiddling with a roll-up. He waved, ‘Hey Flick!’

She stopped at the gate. ‘Hey Fred, I’m off to the ridge,’ she said.

‘See what you can catch eh?’ Fred said. ‘Sorry you couldn’t go hunting yesterday; Felix said you’d tried to go out, but orders is orders, especially with those Kingsmen around.’

Flick shrugged. Lucky he didn’t know the real reason she was going out. ‘Yeah, got to try twice as hard today,’ she said. Which was true, especially with the shortages. ‘Did they find whoever they were looking for?’ Flick tried not to sound too concerned.

‘Dunno,’ said Fred. He’d wedged the roll-up behind his ear. ‘They don’t tell us. Anyway they seemed more interested in the mayor’s new estate workers than anyone else, so I reckon it was one of them they was after.’

Flick felt a surge of relief. They weren’t after Shea at all. She put her foot back on the pedal.

‘Be back before curfew,’ Fred said. ‘Corporal Ross is on tonight, and he won’t keep the gate open for stragglers, not after yesterday’ shake up.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back,’ Flick called as she set off.

It was a pleasant ride through the lanes, with the sun poking through the clouds and a light breeze. It was still quite chilly though and would be for another few weeks, particularly at night. Before too long, she’d reached the cottage, and dismounted.

‘Shea!’ she called. ‘It’s me, Flick. You there?’ This was the moment of truth, finding out if he’d survived, died or gone; if he really was a Scav, or dangerous. There was silence.

‘Shea?’ she called again.

‘In here!’ came from somewhere inside.

Flick allowed herself a cautious smile. She unloaded the supplies from her bike and went into the cottage. The first thing she saw was a nice fire crackling in the grate, with a pile of branches close by. As she cast her eyes around the room, she noticed a little cooking pot, currently empty, and the fabric sail that she’d dragged from the crash site was covering a pile of bracken and leaves, making it into a comfortable looking bed.

But otherwise the room was empty.

‘Shea?’ said Flick, puzzled. She put the supplies down, and her hand hovered over the knife in her belt.

‘Sorry,’ the voice came from behind her. ‘Can’t be too careful. You never know who’s out in these woods!’

Shea came into the room cautiously. Flick couldn’t help noticing he had her old stone knife in his hand. He grinned, but didn’t put the knife away. Only when he’d looked outside and satisfied himself that nobody else was about did he put the knife back into his belt.

‘Welcome to my little abode!’

‘Looks like you’ve got a cosy little place going here,’ said Flick.

‘A nice little home from home,’ said Shea. He’d managed to make himself a crutch out of some branches and vines. He hobbled into the room, and motioned for her to sit. He carefully eased himself down, which took some effort.

Flick watched him carefully. ‘How are you? How’s your leg?’ she asked.

‘About as well as can be expected,’ he replied. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain, but it’ll still be a week or two before I’m running around. The rest of me is pretty sore and I’m covered in bruises, but otherwise I’m pretty good.’

Flick leaned over and looked his leg up and down, feeling over it gingerly with her hand. Shea winced, but not as much as he had a couple of days earlier.

‘So what’s in the bag?’ he asked, pointing at the offending article.

‘I brought some supplies,’ replied Flick, dragging the bag over. ‘There’s bread–only from the baker’s, I’m afraid. We didn’t have enough of our own to spare any today,’ she said, pulling the long thin loaf out and waving it around.

‘I’d better take that before it has someone’s eye out,’ said Shea, reaching for the bread. ‘Well, my eye anyway!’ He laughed, and for a moment they both had hold of the bread. He looked at her and smiled. Flick looked back at him. She couldn’t help noticing the way the corners of his mouth turned up when he smiled. Her gaze drifted up to his big brown eyes, which also seemed to smile at her. She felt her tongue rasp in her mouth, it had become so dry. She swallowed and blinked.

No, this wasn’t right. Scav, remember!

Then the moment passed. ‘Oh sorry,’ she said, letting go of the bread and pulling more things out of the bag. ‘Here’s some cold cooked meat, and some vegetables. Should keep you going for a few days.’

‘Thanks,’ said Shea, still smiling, ‘I was about out of small beer, and I haven’t eaten anything in ages. Do you mind…?’

‘Tuck in!’ said Flick, picking up the loaf again, breaking off a lump and passing it to him.

She watched him eat, noticing the way he wiped the grease off his chin from a piece of cold chicken. He didn’t seem so bad; so what if he was a Scav?

‘Sorry I couldn’t get here yesterday,’ she said. ‘Only the town got invaded by Kingsmen yesterday.’ She watched him closely, looking for any reaction. ‘Apparently they were looking for a runaway Scav. Closed the whole town down; no one in and no one out.’

Was that a reaction? She thought there had been a very slight twitch, or had she imagined it? Or maybe he was very good at controlling his reactions. That wasn’t getting her anywhere.

He smiled. ‘It’s not your fault,’ he said, ‘I did wonder for a while if you would ever come back, and I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t. But you’re here now and that’s what matters.’ He picked at his teeth with a fingernail. ‘Are you sure they said runaway Scav though? Perhaps you misheard and they were looking for a runaway
slave?
’