Chasing Stars (14 page)

‘You have a visitor, Miss Anfield,’ said the receptionist. ‘Mr Pegasus Ryder.’

‘Let him up please.’

I had become so immersed in reading that I had completely lost track of the time. I grabbed a blue dress out of the wardrobe and quickly shimmied into it. There was just time to apply a flick of eyeliner before he knocked.

‘Nice dress,’ he said, as I opened the door.

‘You too,’ I said, pointing at his sarong. ‘Is that what guys wear in the twenty-second century?’

‘It’s not a dress,’ he said, smiling uncertainly. ‘It’s pretty standard for a night out drinking.’

‘Did Ryan dress like that?’

Peg nodded. ‘Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?’

‘No. It’s just not what I’m used to.’

He cocked his head to one side. ‘Are you OK? You look kind of . . . upset?’

I wiped away a tear. I would not allow myself to cry in front of Peg.

‘Hey, what’s the matter?’ he asked.

I scanned on the com-screen and pulled up Miranda’s profile. He skimmed through her entries.

‘Who is she?’

‘My aunt. The woman who brought me up after my parents died.’

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘She had a good life. She figured out where you went. That reads like a pretty good ending to me.’

‘It’s a long time ago from where you’re standing. But it’s just days for me.’

Peg nodded silently. ‘I can’t really imagine what it’s like to go through what you’re going through.’

‘I’m just so lonely,’ I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. ‘Everyone I know is dead. Or locked up.’

‘I know it’s not much, but you know me. I’m not dead. Or locked up. Not yet, anyway.’

I looked at him and tried to smile.

‘And tonight you’re gonna meet a few of Ry’s closest friends.’

He helped me with the wig and once again we left the hotel incognito. We drove downtown to a car park close to the water. Although it was early evening, the air was still hot and stuffy.

As we walked across the car park, Peg put an arm around my shoulder. It was a friendly, non-threatening gesture, but I felt my body stiffen. ‘Let me pay for everything tonight,’ he said. ‘If you use your flexi-card, everyone will know who you are.’

The car park opened on to a narrow alleyway with bags of rubbish piled up beside overflowing bins, and posters stapled to telegraph poles and doorways.

‘Short cut,’ said Peg. ‘It will save us five minutes.’

We stopped for a moment by a machine at the end of the alley, so that Peg could top up the credits on his port-com. He slid the port-com into the machine and tapped a code on to the screen. Although the alley was deserted, it was just the sort of place I always avoided, the sort of place you were warned about as a child.

‘Is Lakeborough a safe city?’ I asked.

‘It’s one of the wealthiest cities in the Federation,’ he said. ‘Crime is low. But like any city, there are parts best avoided.’

The credit machine beeped and pushed the port-com back out through its mouth.

‘Let’s go,’ said Peg, thrusting the port-com into his pocket.

With every step that brought me closer to the door of the inn, my heart squeezed harder. I was going to meet Ryan’s friends. I knew nothing about them. Apart from Peg, he’d never told me anything about them. They would all be older than me. What if they didn’t like me? What if one of them was Ryan’s ex, the girl he’d dated before me?

‘Hey, Albert,’ said Peg to the bouncer at the door.

The bouncer nodded at him.

‘They’ll all be out the back,’ said Peg.

Once inside, Peg dropped my arm. In single file we squeezed through the crowded bar. Music – an eerie, hypnotic combination of heavy drums and violins – blared from two huge speakers over by a raised stage. At the back of the bar was a sliding glass door that opened on to a large deck that extended over the lake. All sorts of boats, from small sailing boats to large ferries, floated across the water. Peg looked around, spotting his friends at a table right by the water’s edge.

‘Hey, everyone,’ he said when we reached the table. ‘This is Eden.’

There were three of them: two girls and a boy. The boy and one of the girls were pale-skinned and strawberry blonde. They were obviously brother and sister; later, I found out they were twins. The other girl was olive-skinned with long dark hair. All three of them stared up at me. And then the boy, who had a long thin cigar hanging out of his mouth, stood up to shake my hand.

‘Antoine,’ he said. ‘Delighted to meet you.’

The fair girl stood then and held a pale hand out for me to shake. ‘Isabelle,’ she said. ‘My friends call me Belle.’

The other girl was stunning. She had high, pronounced cheekbones and large, green eyes that reminded me of a cat.

‘Hello, Eden,’ she said, remaining seated. ‘I’m Lyra.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you all,’ I said stiffly. ‘Thanks for letting me join you tonight.’

‘You can all stop staring at her now,’ said Peg.

He pulled out a chair for me and took the one right next to it.

‘Is beer OK?’ asked Antoine. ‘I ordered a bucket of them. Dad said that was the popular drink back in your day?’

‘Beer is great,’ I said.

Antoine passed me a bottle from a bucket in the centre of the table. I gulped it quickly, glad for something cold. When I looked up, they were all still staring at me.

‘I thought you had red hair,’ said Lyra.

Automatically, I reached up and touched the soft fake hair on my head. ‘It’s a wig,’ I said.

‘We had to disguise her to get away from all those journos outside her hotel,’ Peg explained.

‘How’s Orion?’ asked Antoine. ‘I can’t believe he didn’t get bail.’

‘I don’t really know how he is,’ I said. ‘I haven’t been able to see him since we landed.’

‘Have they set a date for the trial?’ he asked.

‘According to his father, it should be in the next few days.’

There was a pause.

‘How did he get caught?’ asked Lyra. ‘When he said goodbye, he seemed pretty confident he knew how to cover his tracks.’

‘I’m not sure how the cleaner found us,’ I said, reddening.

‘Are the stories true then?’ Lyra asked, arching her eyebrows. ‘Are you and Ry a modern day Romeo and Juliet?’

‘Stop interrogating the girl,’ said Antoine, nudging Lyra.

‘It’s so romantic,’ said Belle. ‘The two of you travelling through time to be together.’

‘Perhaps,’ said Lyra, with a half smile.

‘So what’s life like back in the twenty-first century?’ Antoine asked, a little too loudly. ‘What do people do on a Saturday night? Do they sit around the pianoforte and sing songs?’

I laughed. ‘They go out drinking and dancing and to parties. Saturday night where I’m from looks a lot like this.’

‘Really?’ said Antoine. ‘I thought you all wore corsets and had chaperones.’

Belle smacked Antoine’s arm playfully. ‘That’s the nineteenth century, dumbbell.’

‘I’m disappointed. I imagined that people from your time were different from us.’

For a second I considered telling them about Connor and me playing endless games of chess and Scrabble, but the thought made me so nostalgic that I decided against it.

‘What do you think of Lakeborough?’ asked Antoine.

‘It seems cool. I haven’t seen much yet. Although it was beautiful up in the mountains yesterday.’

‘Which mountains?’ asked Lyra.

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know what they’re called. Peg took me there.’

‘I took her to Twin Falls,’ said Peg.

‘Really, Pegasus?’ said Lyra. ‘You took Orion’s girlfriend to Twin Falls.’

Peg drained his beer and slammed the bottle on the table. ‘Yes. I wanted to take her out of the city, away from the reporters. And Twin Falls is one of Orion’s favourite places.’

‘Sure,’ said Lyra with a smirk. ‘That’s why you took her there.’

‘I love the way you always assume the basest motives in everyone,’ said Peg. He stood up abruptly, tipping his chair back towards the floor. He pushed it up with the toe of his shoe. ‘Looks like we’re getting low on drinks. Beers again?’

He didn’t wait for an answer.

‘I’ll give him a hand,’ said Belle, standing up. ‘I’m not letting him pay for beer.’

A shadow fell across my face as someone approached the table from behind me. He leant over and plucked the last bottle of beer from the bucket.

‘Beer, huh? So, what’s the occasion?’

I turned and saw a tall boy with light blonde hair. He untwisted the top with his hand, tilted his head back and poured half the bottle into his mouth.

‘Hey, Clarence,’ said Antoine.

Clarence nodded at Antoine. ‘You gonna dance with me tonight, Lyra?’

‘I don’t dance any more.’

‘I would hold you.’ He turned to me. ‘I don’t believe we’ve met.’ He passed the beer to his left hand and held out his right hand to shake.

I accepted. He shook my hand vigorously and then sat in Peg’s chair. He leant close. ‘Clarence Wolfe. And you are?’

I hesitated. Was he a friend? He seemed to know the others, though Lyra hadn’t been especially warm to him. ‘Eden Anfield.’

He smiled. ‘Do I detect an accent?’

‘British.’

‘Are you vacationing in Lakeborough?’

‘Something like that.’

His eyes lit up. ‘You’re
that
Eden. I didn’t recognise you. Your hair is different.’

‘It’s a wig,’ said Lyra in a bored voice. ‘Now you’ve had a look at her, why don’t you go bother someone else?’

Clarence stood up. ‘Come on, Eden, it’s time for you to learn how to dance twenty-second century style.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said. Back home I liked dancing, but the way people here were dancing was very different. ‘It looks complicated.’

‘I’m a great teacher.’ He stood up and held out a hand to me. ‘What do you say? Just one dance?’

Lyra rolled her eyes and Antoine looked away. Unsure whether I was about to commit a major faux pas or whether it would be rude to say no, I stood up and let Clarence lead me to the dance floor.

‘Are you friends with them?’ I asked.

‘I’m in the same class as your friend, Antoine. Orion too before he left.’

‘And Lyra?’

‘We used to date. I think she still has a thing for me.’

‘I kind of got the opposite impression. Anything else I should know?’

We were on the edge of the dance floor. I could feel the music vibrating through the wooden floor.

Clarence placed a hand on each of my shoulders. ‘You are about to dance with the most eligible bachelor in the room.’

‘Oh, really?’ I said, raising my eyebrows.

‘Really,’ he said. ‘Not only am I handsome and rich, but I’m also a fantastic dancer.’

‘You’re modest as well, huh?’

‘I’ve never seen the point of false modesty.’

‘Is that everything?’

‘Don’t believe everything you hear.’

Clarence pulled me towards him and then placed one of his hands around my waist. ‘Just copy my moves,’ he said. ‘It’s easy.’

I tried to find the rhythm of the music, but the beat was odd. I looked around me at the other dancers, but everyone was wrapped up in their own moves; no one took any notice of me. Thank God for the wig.

‘How am I doing?’ I asked.

‘Not bad for a beginner.’

I followed Antoine’s lead and, for a few minutes, I forgot about Ryan and the reporters and being in the wrong time. I forgot about everything but the heat and the rhythm and the deep thrum of the bass that made the dance floor gently vibrate.

After three songs, I could feel my scalp sweating and itching under my wig.

‘I think I’m ready for another beer,’ I said. ‘Or a glass of water.’

Clarence escorted me back to the table. The others were chatting and laughing and all of the tension from earlier had gone. I took a cold, sweating beer bottle from the bucket and held it to my forehead.

‘How about it, Lyra?’ asked Clarence. ‘Will you dance with me?’

Lyra narrowed her eyes. ‘I don’t think so.’

No one spoke for a second. Lyra and Clarence just held each other’s gaze, and I was reminded that these people had a shared history that I was not a part of.

‘Well,’ said Clarence after a few seconds. ‘It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Eden.’ He shook my hand again and left.

Antoine took a long, slender case from his jacket pocket and opened it. Inside were several more of the thin cigars he’d been smoking when we arrived. He offered them around the table. Lyra took one and leant in close to Antoine as he flicked open his lighter and held the flame to the tip. I watched, wondering if they were together.

‘You gonna dance with me now?’ Peg asked.

I leant close and whispered in his ear. ‘I just danced with Lakeborough’s most eligible bachelor. That’s a hard act to follow.’