All The Lonely People - David Owen Page 0,80

about.

‘I never wanted to look for Aaron,’ said Robbie. ‘I thought finding the truth would scare us out of the idea. And I was right.’

‘Is that a bad thing?’

Robbie hunched his shoulders, tucking his head down into the collar of his oversized school blazer. ‘Focusing on the fade meant I didn’t have to think about why I wanted it. That’s why I kept doing all those stupid prayers and stuff.’ He laughed. ‘I even started doing them at home by myself.’

‘What, all that make us lonely stuff?’

‘I always knew it was stupid, but it was better than talking about feeling so wrong that I actually wanted it to work.’

They stood together in silence for a moment, watching the other students move past on their way to school, hurrying alone or dragging their feet in groups.

‘Do you still want it?’ asked Wesley.

‘Sometimes.’ Robbie swivelled his head to look up at him. ‘But I’m starting to see that maybe being me doesn’t have to be completely terrible.’

‘Hey!’

They both turned to see Aoife and Jae hurrying towards them, glancing over their shoulders.

‘Joseph is right behind us.’

Wesley lifted himself up from the wall. ‘Let’s find out how it ends.’

Kat had no choice but to go ahead and try to stop the attack by herself. It was due to happen in a couple of hours, and she couldn’t wait around any longer for Wesley to come back. She couldn’t just do nothing.

The people she had inhabited last night were waiting for her outside the flat. They didn’t frighten her any more; she was overwhelmingly grateful to see them. She walked between them as they talked to each other, glanced anxiously up at the flat or where she had just stood, and thanked each of them for remembering her. The boy whose body she had borrowed for her first kiss was there, and she lingered beside him for a moment, resisting the pull that she thought might draw her inside for ever. She had sampled their lives, tried them on for size, if only for a moment. Every single one of them had been so tempting, was still so tempting. Except the world inside Wesley had shown her the truth. There was so much more beneath the surface than anybody could know.

Kat no longer wished to be anybody but herself; she only wished she still had the power to save herself.

It would take at least an hour to reach the convention centre. She ran, leaving the crowd behind, the lightness of her body making every step feel as if she was gliding. The morning was dull, a blanket of grey cloud seeming to mute the streets. The venue was beyond the other side of town. At least a lack of corporeal form seemed to mean she wouldn’t get out of breath.

Still, as she skirted the town centre, a bus pulled up that she knew would take her close. While others tapped their cards, Kat jumped on through the middle doors and stayed close to the exit.

A few passengers were heading to the convention. Cosplay was a dead giveaway. The local old ladies and grumpy middle-aged men side-eyed a man in full Dothraki costume, while near the front a little girl in a Pikachu onesie was chattering excitedly to a young woman dressed as a gender-swapped Goku from Dragon Ball Z.

Kat loved nerds so much.

The bus took a longer route, wending through a retail park before returning to the main road that all but passed the convention centre. Kat got off at the corner, carefully avoiding the cosplayers. Any contact might be enough to pull her inside, and her body might not survive any further dilution. She had to save it for Tinker.

The centre was an unsightly grey building that stretched an entire block. WonderVerse Con flashed in pixellated letters from a scrolling sign, queues already formed at the doors. There were costumes everywhere, as well as geek-themed T-shirts and tote bags. How had she never had the confidence to attend something like this? Everybody was being utterly themselves, and it was celebrated. If she was going to fit in anywhere, surely it would be here.

She stayed across the road to get clear of the crowds and walked the length of the street. There was no sign of any suspicious car. If their plan was to snatch Tinker as she made her way inside, they had to be close by.

At the next corner was another bus stop, more colourful visitors spilling out onto the pavement and streaming