The Thirteenth (6 page)

Setting off, Val waved goodbye to Delta as she headed towards the back of the shop. The shelves went from floor to ceiling so there was no way of seeing each other. The only way of communicating was by shouting, and that felt so wrong in a bookshop.

After about ten minutes, Val was heading up aisle number three. She hadn’t heard a single noise from Delta in the past few minutes so she decided to head back towards the front and wait for her. Plus, it was lunch time and Val was hungry. She was sure there would be enough food for both of them in her packed lunch.

As Val headed towards the counter, she felt a strange sensation in her arm. For a few seconds it was just an uncomfortable tingling feeling, and then sharp pain hit her. Within an instant, she was in serious pain and needed Delta’s help. Val felt her knees buckling. Unable to call out, she grabbed the nearest shelf for a support. After a few moments and several heavy breaths, Val stood shakily and pulled up her sleeve to glimpse at her tattoo. Once again, only one of the symbols was inflamed. It seemed to be like a flower or some sort of curly horns. Val had a very poor knowledge of the zodiac, so there was no chance that she would know what symbol it was, but maybe Delta would.

As she slowly made her way to the counter, she heard a car. It was quite loud and sounded as if it was closing in on the shop, getting nearer and nearer, the way you would hear a lone car on a quiet street at night.

Something felt different. Val was suddenly confused, no longer knowing where she was, let alone where the noise was coming from. She needed to find Delta and the time for silence was now over.

“Delta!” Val shouted. In that instant she spotted Delta busily re-applying her lip-gloss in the mirror next to the toilet door. She moved in, shaking her head like a dog with an itch. The noise from the car got louder and more irritating, and as she reached Delta, who hadn’t even noticed her coming, she couldn’t even hear her own thoughts. As she moved towards the mirror that Delta was gazing into, Val saw the flash of an image in the reflection. She grabbed Delta’s arm and Delta almost jumped out of her skin.

“Val, you scared me! What’s wrong? You look awful.” Delta said almost supporting the whole of Val’s weight. Val was shaking her head from side to side in pain although her eyes were still fixed on the mirror. She needed to see exactly what was in there. As she pulled herself up on Delta’s arms she saw cars. First was a red Ford. It was racing along, and was being followed by a black BMW. As Val attempted to move closer to the mirror, Delta could no longer hold her weight.

“Val, stop!” Delta called, stumbling backwards onto the wall as Val grabbed at the reflection.

Val’s stomach seemed to be pulling into her back, but all she could think was how good it was that at last the noise had stopped. She opened her eyes and as they adjusted to the new light, she saw Delta crouched next to her on what seemed to be grass. Then Delta proceeded to vomit violently before toppling sideways. Val tried to grab her.

“What the hell just happened?” Delta spluttered as she wiped her mouth on Val’s sleeve.

“Hey!” Val pulled her arm away, “How in God’s name am I supposed to know?” Then it happened, just as Val had seen it in the mirror.

The red Ford came around the corner at full speed, with the black BMW in hot pursuit. Val and Delta watched as the BMW clipped the back end of the Ford, causing it to spin uncontrollably off the road. It collided with a lamppost, which fell on top of the car amongst a firework display of sparks. The BMW hadn’t even changed gear and had now disappeared from view. Delta looked at Val in disbelief.

“Why are we here? And what are we going to do?” Delta looked to Val for answers that she couldn’t supply.

“Don’t worry about that for now, let’s go and help the driver.” Val started to cross the road and Delta followed slowly, almost begrudgingly. As they got to the centre of the road Val could see the driver waking up and she waved at him to reassure him that someone was coming to the rescue, even if it was just two teenage girls who had no idea how they had arrived here or how they were going to save him.

“Come on Delta,” Val urged. “I don’t like the look of those sparks.”

She had barely spoken the words when the car exploded into what seemed like a million fireflies rising into the air, and was completely engulfed in flames.

Val was thrown back by the explosion and for a moment she stared around in confusion. When she looked back at the car, she could see that the man was now frantically trying to get out, pulling desperately at the handle of the door. Val jumped back onto her feet and went to check that Delta was OK.

“I’m on the floor in my new Dior skirt,” Delta whimpered. Val knew that Delta was fine and although she was sitting on her bottom in the middle of the road, she would survive. Val lifted her by the arm and dragged her quickly onto the grass verge. Now she needed to help the man in the car.

Val crossed the road again and moved closer, expecting the heat to be intense. However, she had already made up her mind that she was going to get as close as possible, though she wasn’t sure exactly how this was going to help the man. She was going to have to do this in stages. The closer she inched towards the fiery car, the more she expected to get burnt.

‘Why aren’t these flames even hot?’ Val thought. Then she felt the irresistible urge to reach out through the flames that were licking all around the car. Her hand passed straight through them and she felt nothing; it wasn’t even warm. How could this be? Val felt scared but exhilarated at the same time.

The intense heat emanating from the flames didn’t seem to be harming her. The flames seemed to dance over her like feathers brushing her skin.

“Val, no!” screamed Delta looking up from her skirt and becoming aware of her friend’s fiery journey.

“I’m OK,” Val waved back at her.

Val looked through the window of the car and saw the panic in the man’s face as she called to him, “It’s OK. I’m going to save you.” She smiled through the flames as he proceeded to passed out. The side of his face hit the window and instantly started to blister under the intense heat. Val looked back for a moment at Delta who was sitting on the floor with her mouth wide open, obviously unable to comprehend the fact that she was watching her best friend in flames.

“Great, now no one will remember my moment of glory,” Val muttered. She pushed forward and as she reached the door, the flames engulfed her whole body. She pulled at the handle, readying herself to grab the man. After several forceful attempts, she managed to pull the door open. The man’s limp body fell out. Val grabbed him under his arms and pulled with all her strength, trying to drag him away from the blazing car. The edges of his hair were beginning to singe from the intense heat. She had to get him out of this, and fast.

Val was surprised at how quickly she managed to move away from the car. Although the man didn’t seem too heavy she was beginning to feel fatigued. She called over to Delta for assistance. Delta had realised that Val might need her and had managed to compose herself and go to her friend’s aid. Together they grabbed an arm each and dragged him to the side of the road where he lay limp on the grass.

Delta grabbed his wrist. “He has a pulse,” she said with a huge sigh of relief, leaping over the unconscious body and grabbed Val, hugging her tightly. This display of public affection from Delta was most unusual and Val was quite shocked.

“He is going to be OK, but he needs an ambulance. Call the police, Delta. That’s if they haven’t already seen the smoke. Oh, and find out where we are as well,” Val said, feeling a little silly with Delta still holding onto her. Val took a moment to feel good about the fact that she was completely in control of the situation. It was as if she knew inside that she was supposed to be doing this.

Delta released Val and grabbed her pretty pink handbag off the ground. Pulling out her pink mobile phone, she started to dial. “So, do you have a name?” Val asked the unconscious man. “Let’s see.” She cautiously pulled his jacket lapel open and fumbled around in a feeble attempt to find his wallet.

She would have never made a good thief; she had more thumbs than fingers. Val assumed that if his wallet wasn’t there then it was in his trouser pocket and that wasn’t a place she was prepared to visit.

Delta came running back over. “I’ve called the police. They are already aware of the accident and are on their way.” She smiled like a child who had just received ten out of ten for a test.

“Great, so where are we then?” Val asked.

“Er…Didn’t ask that one, sorry.”

Val smiled at her. It was hard enough, without worrying about minor details she could deal with later.

“Let’s see if we can wake him up,” Val said as Delta knelt down on the other side of the man, tapping his hand in a very limp attempt to wake him. Val looked at her and wondered how she had made it to the age of eighteen with so little physical contact with the rest of the world.

Val looked at the man for a second, then raising her hand she brought it down on his face with a thundering crash. Val had hoped the shock factor would work, but what happened next she really hadn’t expected. A blue flash sparked and crackled between them, and everything went black. Her insides went in, then out, and she found herself crashing face first into the mirror at the bookshop. With no time to put her arms out to cushion the impact, her head hit it with full force and she fell to the ground unconscious.

When Val opened her eyes, she was instantly aware of a banging pain in her head. She was too dizzy to stand so for a moment she just lay there, wondering how long she had been knocked-out.

Looking at the light coming in the window she could tell it was still daylight, but that wasn’t much help; she could have been out cold for hours or minutes. She pulled herself up on one of the shelves and called out Delta’s name. There wasn’t any answer.

“Delta, where are you?” Val stood very still but there was still no noise at all. Val span around, in the hope that Delta was behind her. At last, the reality hit her: she was alone and Delta had been left behind.

Val rushed over to the mirror and peered into it, but apart from her own reflection, there was nothing to see. She didn’t even notice that there were chunks of dried blood on one side of her face. Val felt sick. Where was Delta and how was she going to get her back? Val whimpered under her breath, “I will find you.”

Delta stood at the side of the road next to the unconscious driver’s body, not sure she could cope with what she had just witnessed. She was alone, her friend had just faded into thin air and she had no idea where she was. She lifted her head towards the sky and cried out, “Val,” but there was no answer.

Within seconds of Val’s magic show Delta was surrounded by police cars and ambulances, lights flashing, sirens wailing.

The oppressive black smoke billowing from the burning car had almost obscured their position. Delta beckoned to the emergency services, holding her pink handbag aloft, almost like a siren, calling them onto the rocks.

“Typically British,” Delta thought to herself as she waved. “Like you guys say, they are like buses: nothing, then they all arrive at once,” she told the injured man who, thanks to Val’s electric slap, was now conscious. All Delta was genuinely concerned with was finding her friend, getting out of this smoky situation and returning to civilisation and a hot skinny latte.

Delta leaned over the man, keeping far enough away from him not to get herself any dirtier than she already was. “Do you know where you are?” she asked.

The man lifted his head slightly. “I was on my way to Lanron. It’s two miles from here,” he responded weakly, then his head fell back onto the grass. Delta didn’t have the slightest clue where that was. Why didn’t they have more descriptive names in this country? If the man had said they were two miles from the nearest designer shopping outlet or Starbucks, she would have known where they were. Not that she was seriously worried. She was absolutely sure that she could get home eventually. Having Daddy’s plastic in her purse was a first class ticket to anywhere. What Delta didn’t know, was where exactly her best friend had popped off to. Val could be on Mars for all she knew!

Val stood for a moment trying to get one clear thought into her head. “Come on,” she banged her forehead with the palm of her hand, “sort yourself out.” She looked around wildly for any visible clue to give her some sort of direction. She started to pace the shop floor. Pushing her hands into her jeans pockets she felt the sharp stab of cardboard under her nail making her wince in pain and pull out her hand. After inspecting her finger for damage, she cautiously reached back into her pocket and pulled out a business card. On the front, in what looked like gothic text, were the words;
‘The House of Art’
Proprietor: Shane Walker, tattoo artist, Address: 10 the High Street, Arcsdale, AE2 4JR Tel 01675 849666. Val pulled her phone out. “Great, no signal!” she spat at the screen, flipping it shut and shoving it back into her pocket.

She needed to get to Shane’s. At least she could tell him and he (possibly) wouldn’t think she was as barking mad as the police would. “Don’t worry Delta, I’ll find you,” she said into the mirror before swiftly turning to leave the bookshop.

Back at the crash, site Delta was surrounded by several hunky police officers and a few attractive paramedics. She smiled and for a few moments soaked up every second of attention, hoping that firemen were coming as well. She directed them all to the man on the floor, telling them quite bravely that she was fine. At that point, a young and very attractive policeman introduced himself as P C Flinch and asked Delta to move to one side of the road with him.

“So tell me, madam, what exactly happened?” The young man leaned towards Delta, obviously drawn in by her American bombshell magnetism.

“I have to be honest and say I don’t know. When I arrived he was on the floor and unconscious,” Delta replied sweetly, flicking back her blond hair and moving closer. Becoming visibly nervous he realised he was way out of his depth and staggered backwards, clumsily making room between himself and Delta.