Testimony of Children (Alice Gray Book 2)

15

The air thickened in response to my anger. Energy crackled, the scent of ozone polluting the air-conditioned room. The very molecules in the atmosphere began to degenerate. Silver particles joined to form a web around my hands. It spun out of me, creeping forwards, consuming the unstable energy in its path, straining to connect with the other organisms in the room.

I quickly snapped it back to me. The memory of the grotesque creatures that Jonathan kept prisoner, deformed and frenzied, was enough to douse my passion. Unfulfilled desire for our silver life-force caused them to degenerate, physically and mentally. It's the most horrific thing that I had ever witnessed. Now that I knew Stephen was part witch, I needed to hold myself together.

"And that," said Emily, "is precisely why people like you don't get to look at books like this."

She rolled her eyes and settled down to work without giving me another thought. Irritation prickled through me before I suddenly realised that them having brought me here was a testament to how much they trusted me.

"You have to stay calm and try to control your power," Stephen said, "even Emily and I can sense the heaviness in the air when you get angry, but even if we couldn't, Alice, your eyes turn silver. Nobody could mistake you for human when that happens. We'll lose our licence if anyone finds out that we've brought a nonhuman here."

"We'll lose more than that," Emily said, with absolutely no concern perceptible in her voice at all.

Cold fear settled in my gut at the implication of Emily's words. They were risking everything to bring me here. I was going to blow it for us all if I didn't get myself under control.

"Guys, I need coffee. I'm going out into the foyer for a bit."

I left the room without waiting for permission. Emily and Stephen weren't my babysitters anymore. They wouldn't follow. We all knew that I needed them more than they needed me at this point.

The foyer was crowded now with academic types and students, all eager for a caffeine and sugar fix before they entered the reading rooms. Five minutes later, I was still queuing while I seethed about how brutally they'd emphasised my difference. Couldn't they at least have sugar coated it a little?

Breathing deeply, I tried to swallow my irritation. These negative emotions were the precursor to my power surges, and our conversation had left me worried about the physical signs of my lack of humanity. I did not want to explain silver eyes to a coffee shop full of people. Neither did I want to disappoint Emily and Stephen by drawing unnecessary attention to myself.

I really needed to invest in a pair of dark glasses. I might look like an idiot wearing them indoors, but at least I would be safe from detection. My attention drifted over to a table across the room. A man sat gazing in my direction. At least, it looked that way. It was hard to tell because he was wearing dark glasses.

I averted my eyes. Surely he was only a fashion junkie, flaunting his Tom Fords irrespective of the location. He couldn't be wearing them for the same reason I had just been wishing for a pair. Could he?

I risked a quick second glance. He was now engrossed in the tablet in front of him.

Relieved, and feeling foolish for being so paranoid, I placed my order. Overpriced coffee and almond croissant in hand, I found a table next to the exit, and on the other side of the foyer from Mr Sunglasses. There was no harm in caution.

Taking my phone out, I settled in to catch up on the events in the regular world. It was time to get a little perspective; not everything going on in the universe centred on my unruly power.

A slip of paper drifting onto my table distracted me from the celeb scandal pages. Looking up to see who thought it acceptable to offload their rubbish onto me, I was surprised to see Mr Sunglasses retreating quickly down the central stairs to the exit. I picked up the paper.

Treasures exhibition room, now.

Ok, so I wasn't foolish enough to leave the library without protection, but I was pretty sure that the exhibition rooms were within a safe radius. The Treasures of the British Library is a free public exhibition. The exhibits are among the libraries most impressive holdings. Guttenberg's Bible of 1455 and Leonardo De Vinci's notebook are on display for the general public. It's a real treat to witness such historically important texts, which is why it's always heaving.

A busy public place. Wasn't that always a safe rendezvous scenario in the movies? Plus, Sunglasses obviously wanted to meet without delay. What if he had some information that could help me, or Mary?

More importantly, somebody was keeping tabs on me in London, and I wanted to know who that was.

A shiver ran through me as I entered the room. Not surprising, the climate in here was carefully controlled to protect the precious manuscripts. At least that's what I hoped caused the unsettling drop in temperature and the unnerving stillness in the air.

There was only one other figure in the room.

Sunglasses.

So much for my plan to stay in a public place. Movies didn't really offer much assistance when a location that ought to be busy turned out to be deserted. Where the hell were the gallery assistants?

Surely I could rely on CCTV. I glanced around the ceiling, and sure enough, there were cameras stationed at strategic locations around the room. No lights to indicate they were working, and they didn't appear to swivel. I just had to hope that was down to out of date security equipment.

It had to be. The contents of this room wouldn't be left unsupervised. Would they?

Feeling far less confident about this meeting than I had just minutes before, I moved towards the figure. Sunglasses was engrossed in the library's copy of the Magna Carta. A slight figure, he was no taller than me. Physically, there was nothing intimidating about him.

Luckily sight was not my only sense. There was no perceptible life-force visible, but there was something else. The air was dense with power, oppressive and severe. It encased me, pushing in from all sides. I had experienced this before.

Death's unnatural energy always demanded deference.

My own power strained within me, refusing to submit to the intense alien force emanating from the unexceptional figure. Sweat broke out all over my skin. Nausea gurgled in my belly. The air was too dense to get into my lungs, and what I managed to draw in was foul and corrupted.

It took everything I had not to turn and flee.

But that wasn't an option for me now. The silver life-force was too much a part of me. The magic wouldn't let me back down from a force of equal strength. It would fight for dominance.

And so would I.

What new trouble is this? Things are heating up for Alice!