around in it.
‘No. They make me see strange things,’ said Retra.
‘Like what?’
‘Demons,’ she whispered.
‘Demons! Don’t be fou!’ said Suki.
When she saw Retra’s confusion, she explained. ‘Mad, I mean, crazy like the Bonies who live halfway between our village and the men below. You know why they’re called the Bonies? We used to bury our dead halfway down until we found them digging up the graves. They ground up their bones because they thought it would make them stronger. They thought they’d be able to come and take our village from us then. They are fou – mad from living in a place where the oxygen is too thin for them.’ But then she added with a touch of grimness, ‘Just to put an end to it, we burn our bodies.’
‘Nice,’ said Rollo.
‘No,’ said Retra stubbornly. ‘I don’t want any.’
‘Suit yourself.’ Suki headed into the confessional, leaving Rollo and Retra standing together alone.
Retra felt the curious glances from those on their way out to the clubs.
‘You really are famous,’ said Rollo. ‘Everyone is looking at you.’
Retra sighed. ‘Suki told some girls that I am starting my own gang. They must have told other people.’
‘What?’ Rollo burst out laughing. ‘You?’
Retra frowned at him and changed the subject. ‘Are you still going to tell the Youth Circle about the Riper you saw in Grave?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think they can be trusted. Kero thinks they spy for the Ripers. Maybe I should tell Dark Eve instead.’
‘That could be dangerous.’
‘This place is dangerous.’
The girls that Suki had talked to in the dressing room sauntered past them, giggling and whispering.
‘Not everyone thinks so,’ she said, suddenly longing to be carefree like them.
Rollo watched them as well, licking his lips in mock desire. ‘I think I’m hanging with the wrong crowd. Owwww!’
Suki was back and had him by the ear, pinching it hard. ‘Stop pruving, you dirty flesher.’
‘Oww … wassat mean?’ asked Rollo, struggling to get his ear back.
‘Pruving,’ she repeated. ‘Staring at girls.’
Retra hid a smile at Rollo’s shocked expression.
‘And fleshers are males without mates,’ Suki added.
‘But that’s what I came here for,’ said Rollo, rubbing his ear. ‘To look at girls.’
‘Not while you’re in our company,’ said Suki. ‘It’s rude.’ She turned to Retra, her eyes already shiny from whatever substance she’d swallowed in the confessional. At least she was speaking at normal speed. ‘I just heard something’s happened to Markes. He was taken from one of the clubs by Ripers.’
Retra grasped her hand. ‘Which club?’
‘Ravens, they reckon.’
The memory of the demon images flared in Retra’s memory. ‘We should find out if he’s all right.’
‘Why bother?’ asked Suki with a shrug.
‘Markes helped me on the barge when Ruzalia nearly took me.’
Suki’s jaw dropped. ‘Ruzalia the pirate? You never told me that.’ She put her hands to her hips and humphed. ‘Well, that’s typical. But I’m not going to Ravens again. Not after what happened out the back there.’
‘Will you wait for me on the platform then?’
Suki looked at Rollo and cast her eyes upward. ‘I suppose so.’
Retra smiled at her. ‘Don’t you mean, “I guess so”?’
Retra walked several circuits of the main dance floor at Ravens before she saw Cal. The girl was dancing alone among the billowing funnels of smoke discharging from vents in the walls. Freshly painted tattoos decorated her arms and neck and her expression was sour.
‘Cal?’
She looked at Retra without really focusing. ‘What?’
‘It’s Retra. Seal Retra.’
Recognition slowly stole into Cal’s face. ‘You? Alone?’ She glanced around vaguely. ‘Where’s your girl shadow?’
‘Suki’s waiting out on the platform. She doesn’t want to come in here – since that boy was taken by the Night Creatures.’
Cal pulled a face. ‘Thought she was the too-brave-to-care type.’
‘She’s brave,’ said Retra in defence of her friend. ‘But where she comes from they believe in omens.’ Her eyes slid to the end of the dance floor and the corridor that led to the back of the club. ‘Maybe she’s right. Suki heard that Markes was taken from here by Ripers.’
‘Who told her?’
‘Some girls at the confessional in Vank.’
‘So what if he was? They took him for a good reason, not bad. What’s it to do with you anyway?’
‘I-I … some of the Ripers can’t be trusted. I want to warn him.’
‘He’s with the Youth Circle and they know more about this place than you do.’ Cal sneered and turned away.
Retra left the club and found Suki and Rollo standing at one end of the platform. Suki was staring out into the dark, and Rollo was