Temporal Exploring 101 - Branch Cut

V.23 A taste of her own medicine

"To make it brief, I received a letter from the embassy," Ndemba told us. "They are going to pick me up and drive me to the airport next Monday."

"Damn it," Mallory swore. "That means we will need to act this weekend already."

The girls of the Lower Sixth had assembled in the cafeteria, exactly one week after we had held our first 'war council' in the same place.

"I wish the oracle could have been a bit more specific though," Dorothy Barnett observed, with a sideways glance at Erin Morgan, "rather than merely inform us that 'they' are going to kill Ndemba if she goes home. It might have been useful to learn about the identity of her would-be murderers."

"In order to enable us to make sure that they will be apprehended and taken in custody?" Natty asked, not without irony.

Dorothy blushed. "Well yes, that would have been the idea," she acknowledged. "Speaking of ideas, can't you ask your grandmother to help us with this, Morgan? After all, according to what you told us she's the one who taught you how to conduct a séance in the first place. She recently moved to a place nearby, didn't she? Perhaps she could convince the spirits to provide some additional information."

Erin scowled. "That is not the way how it works, Barnett. And yes, I talked to grandma about this. Of course I did. She says the spirits give you a message and you have to work with that, they will never provide any further details or explanations even if you ask them nicely."

That was not completely true though. As I recalled, the spirits had chosen to actually answer Ndemba's desperate question, 'But what can I do?'

Now the Welsh girl turned towards her roommate and friend. "Are you certain that you really want to go through with this, Eunice? Run away and hide in London, I mean. This is going to get you into an awful lot of trouble with your parents, I imagine. What if the prophecy is wrong?"

The black girl shrugged. "I am prepared to take that risk, Erin. I just do not want to die, period."

"It is decided, then," Mallory summarized. "All that remains for us to figure out now is how you are going to get to London, this weekend."

"I could invite her to visit Kerrington Manor on Friday evening," Nancy proposed. "We could then ask James to drive us to London where we can drop her off."

Mallory frowned. "That is kind of you to offer, but I do not think it would be such a good idea. When the envoys from the embassy arrive to pick up Ndemba next Monday and they find that she is not here, that is likely to cause a minor diplomatic crisis, at the very least. It would be unfortunate if your family would get involved in this, Kerrington."

Nancy winced. "I had not thought of that," she admitted. "But I fear you are right about the possible repercussions."

"Which means Ndemba will have travel to London by train," Mallory continued. "I suggest that this time only a few of us accompany her. If we all go, it will be way too easy for the authorities to track or even to intercept us."

"Also, I am certain that neither the Head nor Ms Jefferson are willing to tolerate a second unauthorized excursion of our entire form to London," Carol Mellon added. "If they fail to sanction that sort of activity once again, it could set a dangerous precedent for students at this school. On the other hand, if only a few of us go to London over the weekend, they may not even notice it."

"That makes sense. So who of us is going to accompany Ndemba then?" I asked.

"Obviously, I will need to tag along, if only in order to talk to Clyde," Natty announced. "Also, it is always useful to have Mallory around, she is good at organizing stuff and at overcoming all sorts of unforeseen obstacles."