‘Pass and … What’re you talking about?’
‘I’m talking about the chess.com app. In fact, any chess app you like. But that one’s the best.’
‘What’s an app?’
‘Are you kidding me?’
‘That’s unkind,’ Elijah says. ‘You shouldn’t be unkind.’
‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be. It’s just … OK, “app” is short for “application”. It’s a piece of software, like a game or something, that you use on your tablet or your—’
‘Tablet?’ he says, scoffing. ‘You mean like a pill?’
‘No, I mean like a computer. Like an iPad. A flat screen you activate with your fingers. Have you seen one of those, Elijah?’
‘Nuh … Maybe.’
‘Doesn’t matter if you haven’t. Not as many people use them as they once did. And I don’t bother with the chess.com app on my tablet, anyway. I prefer using it on my phone.’
He snorts. ‘You’re telling me you can play chess on a phone?’
‘If you have the app.’
‘How’d you get it?’
‘It’s free. You just download it.’
He doesn’t respond.
‘A button press, Elijah. Nothing more.’
‘It’s that easy?’
‘It’s that easy.’
‘On any phone?’
‘Well, not the really old ones. But pretty much any smartphone. Which is most of them, these days.’
‘I don’t have a phone,’ Elijah says. Now, more than any time previously, she wishes she could see his expression.
She shrugs.
There’s a minute or so of silence. Then he laughs.
It’s not the same sound as earlier. This one isn’t joyful. It makes her skin prickle. There’s something odd about it. Something not-quite-right. ‘What’s funny?’
‘You’re trying to trick me,’ he says. ‘Aren’t you? You want me to bring you a phone so you can call someone to come down here and get you.’
‘No, I’m—’
‘Yes. You are. You’re trying to trick me—’
‘Elijah—’
‘—and if you think you can trick me, you’ll think you can trick him, and then you’ll fail the test, and then you won’t be here any more and I’ll be all alone.’
‘I just thought you wanted to play chess.’
‘You don’t understand the danger.’
‘I’m not trying to trick you, Elijah.’
‘I don’t want you to die.’
‘Why would I die?’
‘Because you’re playing with fire. And that’s what happens to people who play with fire. They mess up, and then they die.’ He swallows. ‘Kyle was right. You’re dangerous.’
‘Kyle? Is that his name? Is that who brought me down here?’
She’s going far faster than she intended, but now she’s started she can’t hold back. ‘Do you know what he’s planning? Is there anything I can—’
‘Stop, just stop.’
‘Please, Elijah, all I’m asking is—’
‘NO!’
His voice boomerangs around the tiny space.
Elissa lurches backwards. The manacle pulls taut against her wrist. She screams long and hard. Even with her makeshift bandage, the pain is grotesque. It feels like a wolf has seized her in its teeth and is chewing through her flesh.
Elijah scrabbles to his feet. She waits for the feel of his hands on her skin – over her mouth or around her throat. Instead, all she catches is the erratic flickering of his torch as he charges out of the cell. The door swings closed. Three heavy deadbolts shoot home.
Pain and silence fill the void.
Mostly pain.
Elijah
Day 4
I
My head ringing with voices, I crash through the Memory Wood, desperate for peace. I cannot believe I shouted at Gretel; cannot believe, either, that she’d be so foolish – so brave and reckless and gosh-damned admirable – to try and trick me.
As I stumble between the trees, my trainers ripping through wet bracken, all I can smell is the sweetness of Brazilian rosewood.
In this game, the most powerful person is the queen.
I thought Magic Annie was the only sorceress I knew, but Elissa Mirzoyan has put a spell on me more powerful than any I could have imagined.
Among the gaggle of voices, Kyle’s words stand out: You’re gunna cover us all in shit.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am. Because if there’s one thing I’ve decided, it’s this: Elissa Mirzoyan can’t die. Not in that hole. Not while my heart still beats.
She ain’t like the others.
If Kyle’s right about anything, he’s right about that.
Still thinking about what just happened, I lift my head and find that I’ve wandered into the Memory Wood’s most sacred grove. A short distance away, in the shade of one of my Memory Trees, stands Mama.
II
With the autumn light dying, the russet shades of our surroundings are losing their vigour. But Mama doesn’t fade. Her hair is like liquid gold, so warm and brilliant it makes my tummy go fuzzy. It’s not the only thing about her that seems brighter than the day. She glows with energy, as if the sunshine in her heart has leaked through her skin. Watching her, I’m bewitched. After my morning with Annie yesterday, and my afternoon with Elissa today, it feels like I’m overdosing on magic.
I do this, sometimes, to the people I love. There’s a word I read once: deify. I’m not sure it’s exactly right, but it’s pretty close; Mama, to me, has a purity beyond the reach of normal human beings.
She’s wearing blue jeans with flared bottoms, a North Face gilet over a plaid work shirt and mud-spattered desert boots. There’s mascara on her eyelashes and a maroon smear across her mouth. She looks like I want my wife to look, if I ever end up getting married.
Unusual to find her out here. She doesn’t venture into the Memory Wood often, and only ever to pick herbs or mushrooms or to forage a bit of firewood.
A stick cracks under my foot and she flinches, wheeling around.
‘Elijah,’ she says, and I can see from her expression that I’ve startled her. Over her shoulder is a sun-faded orange rucksack that looks vaguely familiar; there’s a hand-sewn patch on the side, like the ones they make for NASA missions. Mama adjusts the straps until it sits more snugly against her spine. ‘You know you’re not allowed in these woods. What are you doing out here?’
I think of the Gingerbread House, and Gretel, and how she tried to trick me into bringing her a phone. ‘Just playing.’
‘Have you seen Kyle?’
‘Earlier.’
She tilts her head. ‘Is he being kinder to you?’
‘He’s being OK. I think he’s frightened.’
‘We’re all frightened, Elijah, in our own way. Your brother’s no different.’ She lifts her gaze to something behind me. I stiffen, realizing that she’s calculating my path between the trees. ‘How long have you been out here?’