Storm and Stone (27 page)

He laughed. ‘No. She had very firm opinions. Your father did too. I bet the sparks flew when they butted heads.’

Yes they had, but her parents had always managed to find more they agreed on than put them at odds. Rather like her and Kieran. ‘I’ll get a job—help with the finances.’

‘Get a job if you like but only so you can save for college. You, my dear, are going places and I will be cheering you on.’

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged. ‘Thank you, Granddad.’

‘You are so very welcome, Raven.’

Kieran could not remember the last time he had slept. Each time his eyes closed, he was shaken awake or had water splashed in his face by his monitor of the moment—Namrata, Heath, or a nameless third person who was on duty at night.

‘You impress no one. You believe you’re cleverer than us but you’re wrong.’

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The recording had been playing constantly since he was dragged out of the breakfast room he didn’t know how long ago. From the number of bathroom breaks and meals he estimated at least forty-eight hours had passed. The pretence at being civilized had continued in a fashion, in that he wasn’t in a bare cell or anything as obviously barbaric as that, but a small seminar room. He had been handcuffed, wrists behind his back, to a chair at a desk facing a screen where his personalized reform programme played on a loop. Fifteen minutes long, it was a montage of clips of students in his year pointing out his defects. He knew every beat, every frame, and was sick of looking at himself through other people’s lenses. As if he cared what others thought of him; that had never featured high on his list of important things to do. He needed no persuasion he was not likely to win any popularity contests. Tell him something he didn’t know.

‘Kieran is gorgeous to look at, until he opens his mouth,’ said Toni to the interviewer.

‘He needs to work on his social skills. He just doesn’t get it, does he?’ added Hedda. ‘No attempt to fit in.’

For the first twenty-four hours of this, Kieran had distracted himself by translating their words into every language he knew. Next he had thought of various options for encoding it. Finally, he had become too tired to think at all and just endured.

His forehead hit the desk again and the door opened. Heath stepped in and clicked off the presentation. Baring Kieran’s arm, he gave him another shot of the drug to ensure cooperation. With sickening care, he dabbed off the bead of blood and tapped cotton wool over the area. Kieran no longer resisted, as he had the bruises from his previous futile attempts when the two enforcers had held him down.

‘Ready to talk, Kieran?’

‘I’m ready to sleep.’ The injection made his brain woozy but he refused to buckle.
I’m too bloody stubborn for that.

‘I’ll let you sleep in a while. Just let’s make some progress first.’

‘How’s Joe?’

‘Do you want to see your friend?’

Warily, Kieran nodded, his head feeling too heavy for his neck.

‘He wants to see you too. If you are good I’ll arrange it. But you need to earn it.’

Stuff that. Kieran pressed his lips together. He knew what Heath wanted. He had been asking for the same thing over and over: he wanted Kieran to confess his ‘faults’ and admit that he wanted to be like everyone else.
The first step to straightening yourself out is to recognize that you have a problem and that we have the solutions.

‘I’m trying to help you, Kieran. You’ve taken a wrong turn and developed some very damaging personality traits.’

‘Damaging personality traits? Take a good look at us both. I’m not the one brainwashing teenagers.’

Heath took a seat across the table from Kieran. ‘You think this is brainwashing?’

‘You call it reprogramming, but that’s just another name for the same thing.’ Kieran realized he probably shouldn’t be so blunt but the drug had the effect of loosening his tongue, not to the extent it did on Joe, but enough so that he said more than he wanted. ‘Thiopental, isn’t it?’

Heath smiled. ‘Oh very good, Kieran. You are the first one to identify our little helper.’

‘It is illegal to administer drugs to an unwilling subject.’ He licked his lips, desperate for a drink but that too came at a price.

‘You forget, Colonel Hampton signed off on us using all reasonable and necessary means to achieve your transformation. Thiopental is very necessary.’

‘My godfather would never agree if he knew.’

‘But he did—he signed the paperwork. He thinks you need reformation—and that’s what we are doing here, though it might seem harsh to you at the moment.’

‘Show me.’

‘Now, now, Kieran, who is in charge here? I believe that would be me. You have to give me something first before I make any concessions.’

‘Showing me the permission form is not a concession—it is a challenge to the legality of what you are doing.’

‘So eloquent and so misguided. I’m sure we can make something of you if only you just bend a little.’

Kieran told Heath what he could do with himself in coarse Anglo-Saxon terms.

‘Oh dear. Looks like you need to be in here a little longer. Such a shame as the others are enjoying our facilities—the tennis courts, pool, weights room, games room. Would you like to enjoy those? Be with your friends?’

‘All I want to do is sleep.’ And get out of here. Isaac surely had to be worried by now?

‘And you can—when you admit you need our help.’

‘I admit you are a sociopath.’

‘Me?’ Heath looked surprised by the charge.

‘One who exhibits extreme antisocial attitudes, like, er, let me think, handcuffing a student to a desk maybe? Add to that a complete lack of conscience.’

‘But I’m trying to help you. You are an intelligent young man by all accounts—surely you understand? We’ve found the subject must first be broken down to be rebuilt. It will be so much better in the long run.’

‘Do you actually believe what you’re saying?’

‘You’ll see, Kieran, once you submit to the process. Just think how pleased Colonel Hampton will be when he sees you navigate the tricky waters of society with the ease of an experienced pilot. Take your place in the UIS network and you’ll never regret it, I promise you.’

Kieran had had enough. ‘Look at me!’

Heath smiled sympathetically. ‘I am, Kieran. You have my full attention.’

‘I’ve been cuffed to this bloody chair for days. In what way is this reasonable or necessary?’

‘Trust me: it gets results. I’ll be back to see how you are getting along. A few more hours and then you might like to trade a concession for a chance to go to bed, eh?’

Heath clicked the presentation back on. Kieran set his features to blank. If he closed his eyes, they got physical with him so it was better to submerge his thoughts behind a neutral face.

‘See you later, Kieran.’

He grunted, and raised his eyes to watch the screen. They had made a mistake, these manipulators. They had forgotten to edit their own material closely. Yep—there she was. That was the second of screen time that made the rest bearable, a brief glimpse of Raven passing through the back of the picture. How many times now? One hundred and eighty two.

He dropped his gaze. He’d have to wait another fifteen minutes to see her once more.

‘Oh, it’s you.’ Raven came face to face with Gina in the yew walk. For once, Gina was alone, not surrounded by her usual gaggle of friends. ‘Where’s the coven?’

Gina bit her lip, a big white florist’s box in her arms preventing her making a run for it. ‘If you are referring to my friends, they are getting ready for the prom. I’m on my way to join them.’

Raven checked the time on her new phone. It was only four in the afternoon. ‘Wow, you must have some major work to do on yourselves if you need three hours.’

‘Hedda and Toni have brought in a masseuse, make-up artist, and hairdresser. Three hours will barely be enough. Now, if you will excuse me.’

Raven stepped aside, shoulder brushing against the spiders’ webs netting the yew. ‘Gina, why did you do it?’

Gina hesitated. ‘Do what?’

‘Lie about me. Do your best to make my life a misery. I was your friend once.’

‘I didn’t lie.’ Gina spun round and glared at her. ‘Stop saying that!’

‘Oh give it a break: we both know you had a problem with stealing things before Easter. What about my ankle bracelet? You’ve still got that I think.’

Gina swallowed, eyes revealing her confusion. ‘You … you gave it to me.’

‘No, I did not. Think! You took it and I let you because I … I thought you just wanted to share my things as a friend.’ It hurt to remember the fun times they had had together, the late night chats and laughing over stupid stuff. She missed having another girl on her side.

Gina’s eyes darted up the path towards the castle. ‘I’ll give it back then.’

‘I don’t care about the ankle bracelet—I care that you ruined my reputation to protect your own. What the heck happened to you at the manor?’ And what was happening to Kieran and Joe right now? It was days since she had heard from either of them. She was getting frantic with worry. If they turned up at the prom having had a great week, she was liable to slap them both silly.

The mention of the manor seemed to snap something back in place inside Gina. ‘You are purposely trying to confuse me. I know the truth. You steal because you envy us. We are no longer friends so we shouldn’t be talking. I have to go.’

Raven sighed. Her brief hope that she was getting through was dashed. ‘OK, fine, rewrite history if you must. I don’t think I can summon up the energy to care. You weren’t much of a friend to me, were you?’

Gina’s back stiffened but she marched on.

Raven’s much shorter beauty regime saw her ready in an hour. She checked her reflection in the mirror, deciding that the colour really suited her. She was looking as good as she could look. The single shoulder cut made a necklace impossible so she accessorized with big gold hoop earrings and chunky bracelet—both cheap costume jewellery rather than the real thing. All she need now was her escort. Where was he?

Her granddad had been busy all day directing the outside caterers and making sure the band set up in the right place. He hurried back briefly half an hour before the event started to give her a gift. At least
he
remembered.

‘By rights, this should be what your young man does but as he’s been away all week and doesn’t know the colour of your frock, I thought I’d treat you.’ He handed her a wrist corsage of red roses tied with a black glittery ribbon to a gold bangle.

‘Oh my gosh, that’s just the finishing touch!’ She slipped it on eagerly.

‘And something for your hair.’ He tucked a few spare blossoms into the upswept style she had pinned. ‘What a beautiful young lady—the belle of the ball—and I’m not biased.’

She kissed his cheek. ‘Of course you aren’t, Granddad.’

‘Have a lovely time. I’ll keep an eye out for you.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Shouldn’t your young man be here by now? The minibus came in from the manor an hour ago.’

It had? ‘Maybe he’s getting changed?’

‘That’ll be it. I’ll see you over there then. The hall looks wonderful even if I do say so myself.’

Raven didn’t know what to do while she waited—patience was never her strong suit. She’d paid her last visit to the bathroom, had all her things for the evening packed in her little clutch purse, and had her shoes on. She sat by the window, watching the path. No one approached the cottage.

She checked her phone for a message. Nothing. She tried ringing Kieran but the phone clicked to voicemail. She checked the time. The dinner was due to start any moment now.

‘This is ridiculous!’ she exploded. She couldn’t sit here any longer—she had to go and haul Kieran out of his shower or whatever he was doing. He might have forgotten—become distracted by some super extreme Sudoku puzzle and lost track of the time. He was probably still sitting there in jeans and T-shirt. If Joe was taking one of the other girls, he might not be around to kick him out of their room.

Looping her skirt over her wrist, Raven strode out of the house, heading for the castle. The place looked like something out of a fairy tale, lights strung in the trees and over the door. Everywhere she looked she could see couples strolling on the paths and lawns, enjoying the warm evening. She spotted Joe easily. He was standing with Hedda on one arm and Toni on the other. Wonderful: her two favourite people guarding the boy with the answers. Raven was sure they would love to know she had been forgotten by her date. Swallowing her pride, she approached them just as the dinner gong sounded.

‘Hi, Joe, have you seen Kieran?’

Joe took a moment to turn then smiled blearily at her. ‘Raven isn’t it?’

‘Of course it’s Raven. I’m looking for Kieran.’

Hedda tugged at Joe’s arm. ‘Come on, Joe, we have to go in.’

‘Joe!’ Raven’s voice cracked with desperation. ‘Please!’

‘Raven, the crow. Just a moment, Hedda.’ Joe swayed. ‘No, no. Friend. Not crow. That’s the others.’

A new suspicion crossed Raven’s mind. ‘Are you drunk?’

Joe shook his head. ‘No, I’m just a little tired right now. Kinda floating. Stuff going round and round in my head, you know? Kieran, you say?’

‘Yes, Kieran. Your best friend.’

‘He’s my date,’ said Toni quickly. ‘I’m meeting him inside. He just went to get me a drink.’

‘Is this true?’ Raven couldn’t believe it, but why lie in front of Joe when it could so easily be proved wrong?

Joe frowned. ‘Has there been a mix up? I thought Key was taking Raven.’

‘Oh no, he changed his mind.’ Toni held out a white rose corsage on her wrist that matched her short white dress. ‘Look: he gave me this.’

‘I don’t believe you.’ Raven pushed past Toni determined to find Kieran. The corsage was a step too far. Until that point she just might have believed that Kieran had been manoeuvred into taking another girl to the prom and standing her up, but she had noticed that Hedda was wearing a similar corsage arrangement and she doubted very much Kieran would have thought of it. She would bet her bottom dollar that these had also come with the prom makeover crew; they’d probably been in the box Gina had been carrying. Toni was just trying to hurt her feelings—not a difficult task, she had to admit.