greasy bones, but a bowl of mashed potato sat neglected. Before she could lose her nerve, Kat scooped up a glob with her finger and pressed it to her tongue.
‘Yes!’ said Safa, punching the air. ‘Does danger make it taste sweeter?’
Kat grimaced. ‘Not really.’
‘What do you expect? We’re in Cluckers.’
Safa danced away, pirouetting between tables. She plucked a chicken wing as she went, gripping it between her teeth like a rose. Although Kat had little appetite, she grabbed at somebody’s plate as she followed towards the door, and ended up liberating almost a full chicken.
‘Should we leave a tip?’ said Safa, and they burst laughing back onto the square.
The high street was busier than before, people migrating to the pubs and restaurants now night had fallen. Safa was in full flow, discarding the chicken wing and grabbing the cap of a passing student to frisbee it onto the handles of a nearby pram. Its owner fumbled after it, all apologies, while the girls cackled.
‘We might as well enjoy ourselves,’ said Safa, already scanning the street for more potential mischief. ‘Are you telling me you’ve never thought about what you’d do if you turned invisible?’
She would never admit it, but Kat had a plan of action for the sudden onset of all garden-variety superpowers (and a few niche ones too). This was different. A superpower could be called upon at will, switched off or disguised. The fade didn’t feel like a superpower. It felt like a failing.
Safa had approached a group of schoolboys who were passing a football between them in a ragged circle. As it bobbled over the paving stones she intercepted and rolled it to Kat. One of the boys ran after it, prompting her to panic and punt it away down the street. The schoolboys watched after it helplessly.
There wasn’t time to feel bad. They ran along the high street, launching off benches and whooping at the tops of their voices. Nobody paid them any mind unless there was no choice, and even then little more than a cursory glance, a resigned sidestep. It made Kat want to push harder, push as far as she could to find their breaking point and force them to acknowledge her existence.
A middle-aged woman was moving leisurely between shops, watching lights flick off and shutters come down. In full view, Kat reached into her handbag and took her purse. The woman didn’t see, even as Kat lifted a twenty-pound note.
‘Now you’re getting the hang of it!’ said Safa, before snatching the money and setting off at a run.
‘Hey!’ said Kat, smothering her guilt and giving chase.
It might not have been a superpower, but she would never have believed it could be so much fun.
There was wax in his mouth, and Wesley wasn’t sure he would ever get it out. His arms ached, and his hands felt wrinkled and tight from all the water. If there was more than £10 from his mum’s boyfriend in his pocket, he might have felt proud.
‘The men have returned from work,’ announced Dave.
‘Oh yeah, I wouldn’t know anything about that,’ Mum called from the kitchen, ‘having spent the afternoon cleaning up diarrhoea from a bingo hall.’
‘All right, you win.’ They met in the kitchen doorway and Dave pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. Despite the diarrhoea, she looked happier than Wesley could remember in a long time. He felt a pang of jealousy, almost like a stitch in his side.
There was no sign of Jordan, which meant he’d decided to stay away for now. Wesley’s place here was already slipping. It would go completely if his brother got his way. Wesley took out his phone and sent him a message.
We need to talk.
At almost the same moment a message arrived from Aoife. We’ve found Lukundo. He’s in the choir at Aaron’s old church. Should we go see him?
Wesley replied immediately. Do you want to?
I think we all do. You?
Almost nothing else in his life seemed more important. Meet tomorrow morning at school.
He paused in his bedroom doorway to hug Evie, and then went to the bathroom to scrub his hands and wash out his mouth.
The phone vibrated, and as he dried his hands he tried to guess who had replied. He guessed wrong – the message was from Jordan.
Where?
Wesley thought quickly. Garden Hill in half an hour.
It was somewhere they had gone together as kids, when things were different. It seemed fitting now he wanted things to change.
A slushie stall was open