The Citadel and the Wolves (2 page)

A well-endowed girl with gypsy looks (long, dark hair, black eyes and full lips) in a black, lacy bra appeared on my vid screen. She invited me in a husky, sexy voice to wear the new
Gypsy Queen
bra and drive the guy in my life crazy with lust.

“No thanks,” I sighed.

I stabbed the
Close Screen
icon. The well-endowed gypsy girl in the black, lacy bra (looking a little surprised) dissolved into thousands of pixels.

I shuffled sleepily into the bathroom. Wendy’s exotic perfume, reminding me of wild woodland flowers, lingered. She had been here before me. I was late again, but I wasn’t bothered. I drew the shower curtain, turned on the shower, shrugged out of my dressing gown, and stepped into the shower cubicle. I adjusted the thermostat regulator on the electric shower, getting it just right for my body temperature. I didn’t like it too hot. I didn’t want to look like a crab when I stepped out of the shower. I closed my eyes, allowing the hot water to massage my nude body. I try not to look at myself in the mirror when I’m in my underwear. I’m very thin. Although I eat regular meals and everything, I never seem to put on weight. I burn off most of the calories in mental energy, schoolwork. My skin tingled. It cleared the cobwebs out of my system. It felt good. Would it be something else I’d miss? I always need a shower to start the day right, a hot bath to end it. After school, I usually spend over an hour soaking in a deep, hot bath, hogging it, which annoys the others. I ignore them. I reached for the bottle of shower gel by the side. I squeezed out a generous blob onto my hand. I began to soap myself. I heard something in my purple world that puzzled me at first. I opened my eyes. Tommy, who was naked, stood in the shower with me, peeing. My eyes widened with horror. When he had finished, he looked up at me with his huge, blue eyes and grinned.

VENUS PEBBLES!!

I picked him up and threw him out of the shower.

After my long, long hot shower without my baby brother doing unspeakable things in it, I checked my face in the bathroom mirror. My face was all clear, no zits, apart from the ‘one million’ freckles staring back at me!

As I dressed in my room a little later, putting on my school uniform; mini tartan skirt, satin blouse top and blue tie with yellow stripes in it; black shoes and black knee-length socks (ugh), I listened to some pop music on my vid phone.

The others were already at the breakfast table as I entered the kitchen with my schoolbag. I glared at Tommy, who sat on a raised chair with cushions on it. He grinned innocently when he saw me. I didn’t believe him. Daddy was watching breakfast TV on the 35 cm plasma screen portable. They were showing pictures of Jupiter after she had been hit by the Icarus 9 Comet. Although the pictures were fuzzy and blurred, it excited my scientist father, who is also a keen amateur astronomer. He bought a telescope, converting the attic into his own private observatory. He spends a lot of his spare time up there now in the evenings after work, watching the stars and the planets. I think it helps him to relax after a long day in the classroom.

“Late again, Jade,” commented mum.

I murmured.

I slipped my schoolbag over the chair as I sat down beside Wendy, ignoring the inane smirk on her face. I picked up the cereal box, poured corn flakes into my cereal bowl, sprinkled brown sugar on it, and added the chilled milk that was straight out of the fridge. I read the back of the cereal box as I usually do at breakfast time as I crunched my cereal noisily. I noticed the disapproving look on mum’s face.

“Do you girls need a lift to school this morning?” enquired daddy unnecessarily when the commercials came on, interrupting the event of the millennium.

Wendy and I murmured.

As I sipped my hot, sweet tea, I studied the others behind my cup. It’s a game that I like to play in the mornings to amuse myself through breakfast. Father is tall, dark and handsome and smokes a pipe. In fact, in all my thirteen something years, I’ve never seen him without his pipe. Mum doesn’t approve, but daddy wouldn’t be daddy without his pipe. It’s part of his personality. His dark hair is sprinkled with specks of silver now. Mum, who is a few years younger than dad, is a petite woman with long, elegant, well-manicured hands. Despite having three kids, she hasn’t lost her figure. She was a secretary before she became a housewife to look after our beautiful home and us. Tommy, my baby brother, is plump and chubby. What more can I say about him? I think mum feeds him too much. He was a surprise. He was unexpected. But mum loves him as much as she loves Wendy and I. Then there’s Wendy herself. I’ve already mentioned her. Sis is very pretty, almost beautiful. Although I know I shouldn’t repeat myself, I’m jealous of her looks. She wears her blonde hair almost waist length. She has stunning, blue eyes and a nice figure. She looks older than fifteen. As for me, my mouth is too big, my nose too small, and worst of all, my ears are tiny. Wendy calls me a pixie when she wants to tease me in the middle of a row. Sisters, who’d have them? I’m also slender in build, almost thin, small-breasted, though it’s not all ribs! I’m neither short nor tall, standing 1.65 in my socks. I wear my copper hair in a short, cropped style because that’s the way I like it. Some people think that I’m a boy from the back. I’m not. I’m all female with female thoughts, emotions and desires. I cry sometimes when I really feel sad about something. I cried when Bono, my pet rabbit, died. I was eight at the time. I have grey-green eyes, though mum insists they’re blue. She says that the colour of my eyes changes with my moods. I laugh because it’s true. I have a small, pinched nose that gives the impression of someone who is cold and aloof. I’m not. I have lots of friends at school.

Then the TV programme producer showed pictures of Jupiter from the
Mars Wanderer,
a giant telescope, which was orbiting Mars. It had been diverted from its normal job of searching the darkest depths of the universe for distant galaxies. The giant world came into stark focus on our 35 cm portable, filling the screen. Daddy drew closer to the TV, staring intently at the screen. Was he seeing what I was seeing? Tiny pinpricks of light were clearly visible on the surface of the giant planet. The tiny pinpricks of light were the impacts left by the Icarus 9 Comet. But they weren’t tiny at all, and I knew daddy was thinking the same as I. The impacts were hundreds if not thousands of kilometres across!

I frowned when I saw her again on the giant vid advertising hoarding on the side of a building as we stopped at the lights on the corner of the high road. The well-endowed girl with the gypsy looks in a black, lacy bra invited Wendy and I to wear the new
Gypsy Queen
bra and drive the guys in our lives crazy with lust. Unfortunately, I couldn’t switch her off this time. But I wanted to.

“Implants,” remarked Wendy after a moment.

We both laughed.

Daddy dropped Wendy and I off outside the main school gates.

Despite its name, St. Jude’s is an ultra modern academy of science and arts with eight high tech labs and the biggest computer sciences department in London. It stands on the site of an old ‘bog standard’ comprehensive, one of the old high schools that were built in the latter part of the 20
^th
century. It was demolished to make way for the new academy. From the outside, the school building reminds me of a giant teapot toppling over on its side. Or is it a watering can?

We hurried up the main spiral staircase, which rose to all floors. As we turned the corner in the school corridor on the second, I spotted Kevin Willis, who’s in year 10. He’s a tall, lanky boy with collar-length hair. I ducked behind Wendy, who’s 8 centimetres taller than I, hoping that he hadn’t spotted me. Oh, DROKK! He had.

“Hi, Wendy.”

“Hi, Kev.”

“Hi, Jade.”

I muttered something in my throat that sounded like ‘Hi.’ It might have been something else that was very rude.

“Jade, will you be going to the school disco tonight?” asked Kevin hopefully.

I found myself once more explaining to Kevin Willis that I had to catch up on my maths and science homework in the evening, so I wouldn’t be able to go to the school disco with him as much as I’d love to, etcetera, etcetera. Excuse
Number 2
was washing my hair in the evening. I’d rather date my pet slug than Kevin Willis. I don’t have a pet slug, but if I did, I would. He (Kevin Willis and not my imaginary pet slug) looked disappointed.

“I’ll be going to the disco tonight, Kev,” announced Wendy, flashing her big, blue eyes at him.

I think my sister is a flirt sometimes.

He muttered something, shoving his hands into his pockets, before he walked off.

I puffed out my cheeks. It was the way that I felt whenever I bumped into Kevin Willis of year 10.

I noticed a foolish grin on my sister’s face.

“What?”

“Kevin Willis fancies you, Jade.”

“Leave it out, Wendy.”

She laughed.

Although Kevin Willis isn’t bad looking in an odd, alien sort of way, I’m simply not interested. As I mentioned earlier, my studies always come first, second and third.

I’ve a very curious mind, and I wanted to learn more about the Icarus 9 Comet. Thus I found myself in the school library during my midmorning free period. As I walked down the two steps leading to the computer lounge, one or two sitting behind their monitor screens looked up briefly before returning to their late, late homework or computer games. Probably computer games. I found a spare one in an alcove away from the others. I dropped my schoolbag down on the floor as I slipped into the hard plastic chair. I booted the computer up and searched for ‘Icarus 9 Comet’ and got many on the subject. I chose the more serious one by the
Astronomical Society of Great Britain.
Daddy is a member. I began reading their article on the Icarus 9 Comet which included pictures of the giant world in our solar system.

‘
The Icarus 9 Comet had made the mistake of getting too close to the enormous influence of the giant planet in our solar system and was torn apart before being devoured by her completely in her dense clouds.’

Daddy said that one of the largest fragments from the Comet had a radius of about 3 kilometres. When I looked out of the window at home, I tried to imagine in my mind’s eye how far that was. I think it was probably the distance between West Norwood and Streatham here in South East London. That was an enormous piece of space rock.

‘Distinct impacts on the surface of Jupiter were observed by space observatories worldwide as well as many space telescopes in orbit and around Mars. The largest impact so far from the Comet has left a huge bright spot of over 12,000 kilometres across. That was estimated to have released an energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons of TNT which is over 600 times the world’s nuclear arsenal.’

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

2. VOICES FROM HEAVEN

It was midday, and our mental batteries already needed recharging. Wendy and I spent our lunch break on Streatham Common in South London. It seemed a million kilometres away from the school. We had the common to ourselves apart from the guy in the cloth cap out walking his dog, a white poodle, but he and his dog didn’t bother us. It was a fine, summer’s day, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. A gentle breeze ruffled Wendy’s hair, making it look untidy again. When she caught me watching her, she poked her tongue out. I laughed. Wendy had a great sense of fun wherever we were. I was simply grateful that she was my sister. I glanced at the blue, cloudless sky. This seemed to be a perfect day to be alive in the world. We were both young and enjoying this moment in time. I didn’t want it to be stolen from us. I didn’t want to think about the future right then. It would only spoil things. I wanted this moment to last forever.
The Dark Times
were faraway from this place of light and sunshine. Wendy and I shared a packed lunch of salmon and cucumber sandwiches that mum had made for us before school. We washed it down with sparkling bottled mineral water.

“Jade, do you reckon he’s got a girlfriend?” asked Wendy as she munched on her salmon and cucumber sandwich.

I was puzzled briefly. “Kevin Willis?”

“No, Super cool, idiot.”

“The paperboy?”

She smirked. “He’s not a boy, Jade. He’s almost a man.”

“Almost?”

“I wonder if he’s got a girlfriend, Jade.”

“Yeah, lots, I should imagine,” I answered without thinking as I idly checked the filling in my new sandwich.

I noticed the look in Wendy’s eyes. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She needed reassurance. Although my sister is beautiful, she’s also a little insecure at times.

“In the past,” I added quickly.

Wendy smiled suddenly. “Yeah, in the past, the distant past…”

After our lunch, Wendy and I lay on the grass on our school blazers in silence. The guy in the cloth cap, who was really an alien from the 5
^th
dimension, out walking his poodle, had vanished from the common and this world, so we were truly alone now. The sounds of the city became more distant. They were faraway from this place, our island. I stared at the sky. I was astonished, for I could see a sprinkling of stars beyond the blue. The light, summer breeze had blown away the remainder of the city pollution in the sky leaving it almost crystal clear. Wendy broke into my thoughts again.

“I wonder what his kisses are like.”

“Kevin Willis?” I teased.

She nudged me playfully. “Super cool.”

“Super cool?”

“Yeah.”

I let my mind drift along the summer breeze on this perfect day. I wondered if Wendy was thinking the same as me. I glanced at her. No, she was thinking of kissing Super cool, pressing her full lips on his awkwardly and smudging her cherry-red lipstick. She had one of those silly smiles on her face again. I feared that she would be disappointed. Super cool, the paperboy from a faraway galaxy, was in love with only one person, himself.

When the sunlight glittered off its silver frame, I noticed it for the first time as the
International Space Platform
passed overhead. It seemed to drift by quite slowly across the blue domed heaven like a giant, graceful bird touching the sky with its huge wing span, yet that was an illusion, for it was travelling at many hundreds of kilometres per hour. I smiled suddenly. That’s where I want to work one day, a scientist on the International Space Platform. I was puzzled. There was something I was trying to remember. What was it now?