Burn Bright - By Marianne de Pierres Page 0,27

made an impatient noise and tugged on this hair. He looked at Krista-belle for help.

‘Because we don’t have night and day, we call things differently here. Twice in every twenty-six hours, the darkness lifts a little. Not sunlight, of course, but something more … dusky. The lightest of the two is called Early-Eve, the other one is called Night-Eve,’ Krista-belle explained.

‘Oh. And the meeting?’

Kero leaned forward. ‘The meeting’s about them. Krissie’s not the first one Brand’s touched. We’ve gotta work out what to do about it,’ he said, in a lowered voice. ‘Thanks to you, at least Lenoir knows about Brand now. Not that we think he’ll do anything about it.’

Hearing Lenoir’s name gave Retra a shiver. ‘What about the Youth Circle? Lenoir said that you should tell them. So did Charlonge.’

‘Wasters,’ said Kero.

‘Too busy taking black beads and sucking up to Varonessa and Lenoir,’ concurred Krista-belle.

‘Why should I come to the meeting? Do you think Joel will be there?’

‘You said he was outspoken. If he is, then he’s probably joined one of the gangs, and they’ll all be at the meeting. If you come along, you might recognise him.’

Retra nodded slowly. Kero’s logic made sense to her. ‘After next Early-Eve?’

‘Yeah,’ said Kero. ‘In the Grotto.’ He beckoned her to lean down closer.

Retra bent stiffly, until her ear was near his mouth.

‘Password to get past the gate is “the-age-of-rage”,’ he said.

She nodded and straightened. ‘Thank you.’

‘Kero will help you find him. Kero knows everyone,’ said Krista-belle. She leaned across and pulled her boyfriend into her arms, wiggling her tongue out near his lips.

He opened his mouth and latched onto it, making loud sucking noises.

‘Gross,’ announced Suki.

Retra looked at her.

Suki inclined her head. ‘Let’s get some food.’

‘You gonna go to this meeting?’ asked Suki through a mouthful of streaky bacon and red chilli beans.

The pair had taken seats at the table furthest from the refectory curtain. While they’d piled food on their plates at the servery, the White Wings had drifted out, following Kero and Krista-belle, leaving only a handful of newbies at the tables. Though they were still getting curious glances from them, at least Charlonge had stopped hovering.

Retra nodded. She’d chosen a bowl of sweetened meal and some wisp bread. The bread melted on her tongue like buttery air. She glanced over at the servery looking for the uther. By concentrating hard, she could see it scraping egg-mash from one silvery dish to another. Did they do the cooking, she wondered? She imagined the dough in their thin, grey, prehensile fingers and felt a little squeamish.

‘So who’s Joel?’ Suki was still asking questions.

Retra hesitated.

‘Come on, I told you about Liam and our blood pact,’ said Suki.

Retra glanced around. There was no one close enough to hear their conversation. It went against all her Seal instincts to tell Suki more about Joel, but Kristabelle and Kero knew of him now. Suki had been nothing but kind to her and Retra liked the way she spoke her mind. Envied it, in fact.

‘He’s my brother,’ she whispered.

‘Oh?’ Suki chewed for a bit. ‘Well, I guess that’s happened before. Sisters following brothers here, and the other way around. My sister is a shicka. I wouldn’t follow her to the end of the road.’

Retra raised her eyebrows.

‘A stay-at-home type. Likes to cook and grow high-country lavender,’ Suki finished.

Retra wanted to explain to Suki that she hadn’t followed Joel here to be part of Ixion, but to convince him to go somewhere else. But even Suki’s forthrightness and honesty couldn’t convince her to share that. ‘Other sisters following their brothers?. I suppose so.’

Suki slapped her head in mock exasperation. ‘You gotta start talking less stiff. You sound so old. Like my Granna. It’s “I guess so”, not “I sup-pose so”.’

Retra smiled. ‘I suppose it is.’

They both laughed.

For Suki the sound came out easy and naturally. For Retra it was like opening the door of a cage that had been closed for too long; an uncertain, rusty sound.

Suki whacked her on the back as if she was choking.

And then they laughed more.

Until Charlonge appeared at their table.

The tension still played through the supervisor’s body. Retra could see it in her stiff shoulders and neck. ‘What were the White Wings saying to you?’

Retra stared at her bowl but Suki spoke up.

‘They just wanted to thank Retra for helping Kristabelle out. And they asked us to join the Wings.’

Retra wished Suki would be quiet and stop telling Charlonge everything. But it wasn’t in the Stra’ha girl’s nature to