Ravensborough Read online

  Ben was waiting for us at the gate, leaning against the wall and looking at us with appraising eyes.

  Cat shook her jet black hair back from her face and put it in a bobbin. ‘You walking this way?’ nodding in the direction that her and Ben were heading.

  ‘No, I’m up the other way, in Chesterfield. ‘

  Ben let out a small whistle. ‘Someone’s got money.’

  ‘Correction, someone’s stepfather has money,’ I pointed out. I decided to try and get some perspective on Rationalists from someone other than Rupert.

  ‘This may be a stupid question,’ I asked hesitantly. ‘But are you guys Rationalists?’

  The two of them started laughing.

  ‘What?’ I asked, blushing.

  ‘I don’t know how much you hear about Avalonia in Ireland, but you know the way we have a big problem with Pagans in this country?’ Ben answered.

  I nodded, even though I knew very little about it. I didn’t know until my talk with Rupert the other night that it was considered a ‘problem’. But then, world politics never interested me much.

  ‘Well, the opposite of those, those who don’t believe in the occult and other ridiculous things, are called Rationalists,’ he explained.

  ‘Because we think rationally,’ Cat chimed in.

  ‘This side of the Bridge is Rationalist. The centre of the city is mixed, you need to be careful what parts of it you go to. Pagans live on the other side of the hills, in the mountains’, Ben expanded.

  ‘Oh ok. I had never heard of all that before yesterday,’ I admitted. ‘What are the army checkpoints for?’

  ‘Oh, Pagans aren’t allowed in Rationalist areas after dark’, said Cat. ‘Thank God, or we wouldn’t be able to sleep at night,’ she added drily. ‘See you tomorrow, Scarlett.’

  All of what they’d told me backed up what Rupert had said the night before. I guessed that it wasn’t all in his head then.

  When I got home there was a large white pick-up truck parked in the front driveway. The sides were encrusted with so much mud that I guessed it hadn’t been cleaned since it had been bought in...I squinted at the registration plate. 2004. Rupert must have a client over or something, I guessed he was working from home today.

  I let myself in. I could hear Rupert laughing in the dining room along with the sound of another male voice. Deciding not to disturb him, I walked into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. God knows I needed something to warm myself up. Would I ever get used to this weather?

  When I walked into the kitchen I came up short. There was a girl sitting at the counter reading a magazine, ink black hair spilling onto her shoulders. Her skin was so white it was almost translucent and her heavy outdoor coat hung on the back of her chair. She looked up when I came into the room and I saw that her eyes were green. They weren’t like ordinary green eyes though, they were a deep conifer colour – I’d never seen anybody with eyes that shade before.

  ‘Hi,’ I said walking over to the breakfast bar where she was perched. ‘I’m Scarlett, Judith’s daughter.’ She held my gaze for a second before her face broke into a large grin.

  ‘I’m Aradia, Rupert’s niece.’

  ‘Oh, I didn’t know he had a niece,’ I said conversationally.

  The smile immediately vanished from her face and she looked sad, distant even. ‘No, I suppose you wouldn’t.’

  I didn’t know what she meant so I ploughed ahead with more small.

  ‘So, how come you’re here this afternoon?’

  ‘My dad wanted to see Rupert. I’m not exactly Rupert’s favourite person though, so I decided to stay out of the way,’ she said darkly.

  This was strange. Rupert might not win any awards for charm, but he was a nice person. I was curious to find out why they didn’t get on, but I decided not to ask: it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you usually asked somebody you’d just met.

  ‘So, you just came here from Ireland, right? Are you getting used to the place?’ she asked.

  I sat down opposite her. ‘A bit, but I’m only beginning to realise just how clueless I am. I didn’t know what a Rationalist was until yesterday, which is apparently a pretty big deal here.’

  Aradia laughed. ‘It’s an important thing to know, yeah. Especially, you’re living in the house of someone who gives a lot of his money to a big Rationalist political party. And when you live in a Rationalist area.’

  ‘I think that’s why the people in my class found it so funny. Do you live near here?’

  Aradia smiled and shook her head slowly. ‘No. Nowhere near here.’ She pointed to the earphones of my mp3 player that were peeking out over the top of my jacket. ‘What are you listening to?’

  ‘It’s a Scottish college band. My friend’s brother is in college in Scotland, and he got us to check them out. They’ve got a kind of grungy sound.’

  ‘Can I have a listen?’ she asked.

  ‘Yep, sure.’ I freed the player from my coat and handed it to her. ‘Would you like a coffee or something?’

  ‘No, I’m ok thanks.’

  I made myself a cup of coffee while she listened to the music with her head on one side.

  ‘Not bad’, she said as I sat down with my coffee cup. ‘What are they called?’

  ‘Pegasus Weeps. I think they need a name change, but their sound is pretty good. Is this the kind of music that you like?’

  ‘I like a lot of different music’, she said handing my mp3 player back. ‘There are a few good bands around here too. Some of them play in Ravensborough, but if international bands come they tend to just play in Northport. It's a bit of a pain.’

  Just then the door opened and Rupert walked into the kitchen with a man I’d never met before. Aradia’s face had been animated while she talked about music but, as soon as she saw Rupert, it immediately closed down.

  ‘And you must be Scarlett,’ the man said putting his hand out to shake mine. ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Nick, Rupert’s brother.’ They looked very alike, having similar features and brown hair which they both wore cut short. That’s where the similarities ended, though. Rupert’s clothes were sedate, in muted hues of grey, beige and tan and still looked freshly pressed. Nick, on the other hand, was wearing a pair of old faded jeans and a red shirt that was missing some buttons. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal tanned, muscular forearms; he looked like he spent a lot of time outdoors. In contrast to Rupert’s smart Italian leather slip on shoes, Nick wore a pair of heavy weathered boots.

  ‘Nice to meet you’, I said to him smiling.

  ‘Roo, you never told me you had a niece!’ I said excitedly. ‘You should have said. I would have had someone to talk to before school started!’

  ‘I don’t think Aradia is the best person for you to hang around with’, Rupert said coldly.

  I was shocked. I’d never heard Rupert be anything but faultlessly polite up until now.

  Aradia’s cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment, then she stared at Rupert with a dark look in her eyes. As she stared, her eyes started changing colour. So quickly that I wasn’t completely sure that I’d seen it, her eyes changed from evergreen, to seagreen, to pale blue, to deep blue and then violet.

  ‘Aradia’, Nick muttered grimly.

  Aradia closed her eyes for a moment, the muscles in her jaw moved as she tried to contain her temper. When she opened her eyes again they were the conifer colour that they’d been previously. She turned to me.

  ‘Sorry Scarlett,’ she muttered, her voice hard. ‘Rupert feels the need to protect you.’ She pulled her coat from the back of her chair and shrugged into it.

  ‘I’ll be in the car, Dad. I don’t stay where I’m not wanted. It’s almost curfew anyway. Bye Scarlett, nice meeting you,’ she said, giving me a tight smile. Ignoring Rupert pointedly, she left the room. A few seconds later a dull bang indicated that she’d left.

  Nick glared at Rupert. ‘She’s just a kid, Rupert. Why the hell do you treat her like some monster?’

  ‘She’
s a teenager Rupert,’ he continued angrily, picking up his jacket. He leaned both hands on the kitchen table as he leaned his face in towards his brother. ‘What is it exactly that you think she’ll do? Kidnap Scarlett and whisk her away to a coven? You’re pathetic.’ Without another word he walked out to the hall. The slam that he gave the door as he left echoed around the house.

  I looked at Rupert and the shock must have been visible on my face, because he responded tightly.

  ‘Scarlett, you’ve been here five days. Please believe me when I say that I understand this situation better than you can grasp it at this moment.’

  And with that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Rupert’s attitude towards Aradia puzzled me. What could she have done that had made him react like that? Even if he thought that she’d be a bad influence on me, it was no reason to be so rude. And did he think that I could be that easily lead? I was more than capable of looking after myself.

  The story behind Aradia’s eyes played on my mind more. I was pretty sure that I hadn’t imagined the colour change. But if I hadn’t imagined it, what exactly had happened? I couldn’t think of a rational explanation.

  The next day at lunch, I sat with Cat and Mei. Mei was really funny, with dark almond shaped eyes and a cascade of shiny brown hair. When I discovered that she was in my history and English classes I was really pleased. With someone to sit beside I’d feel like less of a loner.

  I told them both about what had happened the day before and about Rupert’s weird attitude towards his niece. But they didn’t see the situation quite the same way that I did.

  ‘He did the right thing. Definitely’, said Cat. ‘He was looking out for you. I mean, you couldn’t be alone with her. It would be too dangerous.’

  ‘How would it be dangerous?’ I asked.

  Cat sighed dramatically. She did everything dramatically. ‘Scarlett, she mentioned the word curfew right?’ She slurped her drink through a straw noisily. ‘In a Rationalist area, anybody getting out because of curfew is a Pagan. Simple as. Like I said, they’re not allowed in our areas after dark.’

  ‘But that can’t be possible, Rupert is a Rationalist,’ I said confusedly. ‘That means that Nick must be one too, right?’

  Mei shook her head. ‘All it means is that Nick was probably a Rationalist originally. It doesn’t happen that often, but sometimes a Rationalist and a Pagan can have a relationship. It’s very difficult to do, but it’s not unheard of.’

  ‘Well, that would explain why Rupert never told me about her,’ I reasoned out loud. ‘And why they don’t get on.’

  ‘Yeah, so you see Rupert was protecting you. Acting in your own best interests,’ said Cat.

  ‘Not necessarily,’ I argued. ‘Ok, he doesn’t like Pagans, but couldn’t he at least have been polite?’

  ‘She’s a Pagan!’ Cat exclaimed. ‘You were in danger.’

  ‘How was I?’ I protested. ‘There’s no such thing as magic, so what could she have done?’

  ‘If you were alone with her, you could be overtaken with her glamour,’ Cat drawled, elongating the word. She giggled. ‘And because you come from a different country you would be especially vulnerable, because you don’t know what all the rest of us. . .’ She drew a circle in the air to indicate everyone in the cafeteria, ‘. . . know. Which is that there is no such thing as magic, no such thing as witchcraft. All there is, is backwards superstition. I mean you’re new here. You might start to believe her and get drawn into her cult.’

  ‘But she didn’t say anything at all about witchcraft,’ I argued. ‘We just talked about music, stuff like that. I don’t see why being friends with her would cause so much harm.’

  Mei hadn’t said anything at all; she just stared down at the pasta dish that composed today’s meal. She was poking around the dish unenthusiastically with her fork.

  ‘Mei, what do you think?’ I asked.

  Mei looked up warily, ‘Ehm…what she said. Cat’s right. Hanging around with her is more dangerous than you realise.’

  Cat let out a peal of laughter. ‘See? Told you I’m good.’

  When Cat went up to get a glass of water Mei leaned across the table towards me.

  ‘Scarlett, never stick up for Pagans. I know where you’re coming from, but if you get a reputation for sympathising with Pagans, life here will get very hard for you very fast.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘Just trust me on this, Scarlett. So, are you coming into the city with us on Saturday?’ she changed the subject as Cat returned to the table.

  I thought about what Mei had said during maths class. Mathematics had never been my favourite subject, so it was a welcome distraction. Cat and Mei had seemed to assume outright that Aradia was pagan. But that couldn’t be the explanation. Surely Rupert wouldn’t have such a problem with Pagans if his niece was one.

  Curiosity about her turned over and over in my mind as I walked home from school. I passed under a railway bridge that had ‘Pagan Scum Out’ emblazoned on the side of it in bright pink spray paint. I felt way out of depth. Even nice, sweet Mei thought that it was better for me to not talk about Pagans. Was the divide between the two groups really that deep?

  As soon as I got home I decided to make myself a cup of coffee before I started my homework. I flicked on the television to occupy myself while the kettle came to the boil. There was nothing very interesting on at this time of the day, a couple of repeats of American sitcoms that I’d already seen, and plenty of children’s programming. I settled on an Avalonian news channel, I thinking that I had better learn something about what was going on in my new home.

  There were a couple of real life stories about apple growers in the southern regions, and the impact of global warming on some endangered plant life off the northern coast. Nothing terribly interesting, but the scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen was carrying a story about rioting in East Northport. I made my coffee and waited for the story to come around.

  When the full story came on it was a bit frightening. The channel reported that a group of young men from the Wiccan quarter, a Pagan area, had picketed a factory that they believed had a policy of not employing people that held Pagan beliefs. Some Rationalist workers from the factory had come out and goaded the protesters, and a full scale riot had ensued. A factory worker had been stabbed with a flick-knife, and was said to be injured but not critical. Several others had sustained minor injuries.

  Hostility was one thing, violence was another. I thought most of that was in the past. I went upstairs and flicked through my Lonely Planet guide for Avalonia, a gift from Lindsay that I hadn’t even opened. I found crime in the index and flicked to the listed page. It stated that Avalonia was a safe country to visit for tourists, as violent crime tended to be focused between Pagan and Rationalist factions. It recommended that some areas of Northport, Camelot and the medieval part of Ravensborough should be avoided after dark, particularly between the hours of twelve and one, and on certain religious feast days.

  That evening I went for a walk with my mother in one of Chesterfield’s parks. It was large and sprawling, and was arranged into lots of little gardens, each with a different theme separated from each other by lines of sky grazing conifers. We wandered in the Japanese garden, with exotic plants and ornate statuary. How they managed to get exotic plants to grow in this climate I had no idea.

  ‘So, how are you finding school?’ Mum asked as we made our way around the edge of the garden.

  ‘It’s alright. The first day was tough; I was very obviously the new girl. But today was better. I’ve gotten to know a couple of girls, and they’ve invited me out on Saturday, which should be fun.’

  ‘I’m glad, sweetheart,’ she said.

  ‘I heard on the news that there was some rioting in Northport, a fight between Pagans and Rationalists. Is it always that violent here?’ I asked. I didn’t remember Mum mentioning anything about that to me before.

  Mu
m was silent for a second before answering. ‘It can be, yes. There is an awful lot of antagonism between Rationalists and Pagans, and that sometimes spills over into violence. As far as I can tell, most people here manage to deal with their issues without violence, but some people seem to find that impossible.’ She sighed.

  ‘Look, I’m not going to lie to you. There are problems in this country. I wish there weren’t, but there are. The point is that every city has its problems. Whether it’s poverty, drugs, terrorism, whatever. Please believe me, though: if I’d thought that there was any chance that I was putting you in danger by moving here, I wouldn’t have considered it for a second.’

  We walked over a beautifully painted bridge, crossing a small stream.

  ‘I met Rupert’s niece yesterday, Aradia.’

  ‘Yes, he told me. It’s an unusual name, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve never heard of it before. Rupert doesn’t seem to like her much.’

  ‘Well, they’re certainly not close.’

  ‘Do you know why that is?’

  Mum paused for a second. ‘Rupert and Nick are from a well-known Avalonian family. The Davenports have been involved in banking here since the early nineteenth century. Their father wanted them both to go into banking. Rupert was keen. He loved the world of banking, still does actually.

  ‘Nick, on the other hand, didn’t want that. Instead he studied archaeology, and they couldn’t see the value in that. While he was in college he fell in love with a Pagan girl called Lavendell who was studying to be a kind of Pagan pharmacist, an apothecary I think it’s called. The family never accepted the relationship, and when they got engaged their parents cut him out of their lives. Nick was so contrary that he took her name when they got married. His name is Nick Nighthawk now.’

  ‘Did Rupert talk to him at that time?’

  ‘He didn’t, no. Nick’s parents died while they were still estranged. Nick feels so bad about it that he made up with Rupert at the funeral. Rupert sees Nick regularly, but not Lavendell or Aradia. When he does see them, he’s civil, but no more than that.’