The Set Up, Page 8

Geri nodded.

  ‘Viper?’ I said. ‘Isn’t that a snake?’

  Jack and Geri glanced at each other. Geri nodded, as if giving Jack permission to speak.

  ‘Each recipient of the Medusa gene was given a code name when he or she was implanted,’ Jack explained. ‘The unidentified recipient was called Viper.’

  ‘Each recipient?’ I said. ‘Does that mean I have a code name too?’

  Jack looked at Geri again, his eyebrows raised.

  ‘Yes.’ Geri smiled at me. ‘Your code name is Cobra. Very fitting – the King Cobra is a powerful snake.’ She handed me two fifty-pound notes.

  I didn’t get the whole ‘snakes’ thing but I had to admit I liked the idea of being seen as powerful. And I had moved that roulette ball perfectly. I pocketed the money. Maybe I could handle Geri and her organisation after all.

  Anyway, all that mattered now was seeing Ketty.

  ‘Come on,’ Jack said. ‘Let’s get you out of here.’ He led me out to the bar and across the room to a door I hadn’t noticed before marked Office. ‘Ketty’s in there. I’m going to make myself scarce, but you’ve got plenty of money. Get a cab back to school later, okay?’

  I nodded, all my thoughts focused on what I was going to say to Ketty. I knew having money wasn’t going to cut it with her any more. I had to make her feel I’d saved her. I pushed open the door. She was sitting, hunched over, in a chair by the desk. As I walked in, she jumped up.

  It was obvious from her tear-stained face that she’d been crying.

  ‘Nico.’ She flew across the room and hurled herself into my arms. ‘They just put me in this room and left me here. I’ve been so worried. Are you okay?’

  ‘Hey, I’m fine.’ I hugged her back, struggling not to blush at being so close to her.

  ‘What about Ed?’

  ‘He’s fine too . . . but, er, he wanted to go back to school. Look, I straightened it all out with that manager. I made them see those weren’t your pills.’ I thought fast, pushing away the guilt I felt at lying to her. ‘Apparently someone in the bar dropped them in your bag so they wouldn’t get caught themselves.’

  ‘Oh, Nico, that’s brilliant.’ Ketty hugged me again. ‘So can we go?’

  ‘Sure.’ I picked up her jacket from the chair she’d been sitting in and we went outside. ‘I’m starving.’

  Ketty beamed up at me. ‘Me too.’

  Ketty wanted one of those healthy kebabs, so we walked down to the kebab shop on Hanmore Park High Street. She ordered shish chicken and salad in a pitta. I asked for chips.

  I could have spent ten times as much taking her to a fancy restaurant, but I didn’t want to draw attention to having cash. If I’d learned anything from the past week or so, it was that flashing money around didn’t impress Ketty at all.

  In the end, I paid for our food without even breaking into my fifty-pound notes from the casino.

  And it was great being with Ketty. She was more relaxed with me than she had been for days. Guilt prodded at the edges of my mind. I knew it wasn’t right for me to claim the credit for sorting out the drugs situation – but it was hard when the result of Ketty’s gratitude and relief was us chatting and laughing just like we used to.

  As we left the kebab shop, munching on our takeaways, Ketty glanced sideways up at me.

  ‘So tell me about this juggling you did to win the money for my marathon,’ she said.

  My throat tightened.

  ‘Okay . . . it was a random street competition,’ I said, carefully. I’d already planned out something that would be impossible to prove or disprove. ‘They were just asking for passers-by to take part in, like, this talent show and whoever won got the takings for the day.’

  Ketty wrinkled up her nose. ‘And you really juggled seven balls?’

  ‘Watch. I can do it with anything.’ I picked seven fries from my bag and gave her the rest to hold. I placed the chips, slowly and theatrically, in my outstretched palm. Ketty giggled.

  My heart raced. This was it.

  I glanced round to make sure no one was watching, then breathed in and out slowly. When all my attention was in my breath, one by one I made the chips rise into the air and move round each other. My hands skimmed each chip as it fell, making it look like they were in control of the action. Though, in fact, my hands were really just shadowing the chips’ movements.

  ‘That’s amazing. How are you doing it?’ Ketty gasped.

  As soon as she spoke, I could feel my focus on the chips slipping. Panicking, I tried to bring them gently down, into my hand, but they refused to obey me and flew off in different directions. One bounced off my own chip bag, still in Ketty’s hands. As I glanced at it, the chips inside seemed to explode out of their wrapper. No. They burst like fireworks into the air and cascaded down, around us.

  In seconds they were all on the pavement.

  Ketty’s mouth fell open.

  I dropped to my knees, desperately trying to pick up the chips. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe that if I got rid of the evidence, Ketty would somehow forget what she’d just seen.

  ‘Nico.’

  I ignored her, still scrabbling around on the pavement. It was hard and cold under my knees.

  ‘Nico, what just happened?’ Ketty’s voice above my head managed to sound both scared and accusing.

  I scraped up a chip that had fallen beside a drain grating and chucked it into the drain. What had just happened? Why did Ketty’s presence make it so hard for me to control my telekinesis?

  ‘Nico, will you please stand up.’

  Reluctantly, I got to my feet.

  ‘Nico, look at me.’

  I looked at her.

  Ketty’s expression was one of complete confusion. ‘Those chips just . . . how . . .?’ she said. ‘That wasn’t part of the trick, was it?’

  I opened my mouth to say that it was . . . to try and lie on my feet with some random nonsense about the angle of impact of the first chip leading to the spilling of the rest. But, as I gazed into Ketty’s wide, bewildered eyes I knew that I couldn’t tell her any more lies.

  I’d tried to impress her with money and by showing off my telekinetic skills. Neither of these tactics had worked – which only left me with one option . . .

  ‘Okay.’ I took a deep breath. ‘This is going to sound weird but I swear it’s the truth.’

  And I told her about the Medusa gene.

  ‘And this same gene, or genetic mutation, was put into three other people too.’ I finished my explanation. ‘We’ve got snake code names. I’m Cobra.’

  Ketty and I were still out on the street. It was a warm night but we’d been standing still for a long time. Ketty shivered. She had the same, serious expression on her face she’d had for the past twenty minutes. Her kebab sat on a nearby wall, cold and forgotten.

  ‘Come on, babe, let’s get inside somewhere.’

  Ketty shook her head. ‘I’m fine.’

  She sounded a bit dazed, but then I guess it’s not every day that you find out your best friend has telekinetic abilities.

  So far I’d only explained how the basic skill worked, and a bit about the origins of the Medusa gene. I’d tried to show Ketty what I could do, but standing close to her, it was impossible for me to control my breathing and focus for more than a few seconds. Still, I’d done enough to convince her that I wasn’t lying.

  ‘So when else did you use these . . . powers?’ Ketty stared at me shrewdly. ‘There was no magic tricks street competition, was there?’

  ‘No,’ I admitted. I told her how Jack had contacted me and helped me develop my telekinesis. I didn’t mention the football match and how we’d made money by betting on a result I’d engineered. ‘Jack told us to meet here, tonight, too . . .’ I stopped, not wanting to get drawn into an explanation of how Ed and I had used our abilities to gamble successfully at roulette.

  ‘Us?’ Ketty frowned. ‘Who’s us?’

  Crap. Now I’d have to tell her about Ed. With a sigh I explai
ned that Ed was one of the three others with the Medusa gene. ‘He’s come to our school because Fergus knows about the gene and thought he’d be able to hide it better here.’

  ‘Mr Fox knows?’ Ketty frowned. ‘And he wants you to hide what you and Ed can do?’

  ‘Yeah. Fergus seems to think the Medusa gene is an evil curse which should never be used. And so does Ed, so please don’t tell either of them I told you about it.’

  ‘I can’t take all this in.’ Ketty shivered again. Light, misty rain glistened in the light of the street lamp behind her.

  ‘Come on,’ I insisted. ‘It’s pissing down. Please can we get off the street?’

  ‘I want to go back to school,’ Ketty said.

  ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘I’ve got money for a cab.’

  Ketty said nothing. We set off up the hill towards the centre of the town. There was a dull weight in my chest as I walked beside her. I wanted to say something to make everything okay, but had no idea what . . . maybe it was best just to let everything sink in for a bit.

  The rain grew heavier as we trudged. And then Ketty stopped.

  ‘What did you mean, earlier, about Jack telling you to go to that pub tonight? I thought tonight was just about showing me you could juggle.’

  ‘Not exactly.’ I explained how Jack had told me to bring Ed to the bar.

  ‘So you tricked Ed into coming?’

  ‘Er . . .’

  ‘So the whole point of the evening wasn’t for you to con me into thinking you could juggle?’

  I winced. ‘No . . . yes, well, sort of. Jack meeting Ed was just this extra thing. But then Geri showed up and we had to do what she asked. They said you’d be done for possessing drugs if we didn’t.’

  ‘Wait, so you knew that the drugs thing was a set-up . . . right from the start?’

  I stared at her. ‘No,’ I said. ‘At least, Jack warned me to go along with whatever was about to happen, so I thought it might be part of his plan, but I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure until . . .’

  ‘So you did know.’ Ketty shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it, Nico. You’re supposed to be my best friend and yet you let me think I was going to be sent to jail for owning drugs which you knew had been planted in my bag.’

  ‘No . . . it wasn’t like that, I . . .’

  ‘And you’ve been lying to me for weeks.’ Ketty’s voice rose, furious now. ‘All that crap about a talent competition . . . why didn’t you just tell me about the Medusa gene then? Or when it started, in that assembly?’

  ‘I . . . I . . .’ My mind was in free fall. Panic-stricken I tried to remember how I’d felt . . . why I’d kept quiet. ‘I did try to show you . . . with that twig back at school. Remember? But it didn’t work and I thought you’d think I was a freak if I told you without being able to prove . . .’

  ‘I thought we were friends,’ Ketty was shouting now. ‘But all you’ve done is lie to me and take me into a really bad situation where I was terrified and . . . and in the meantime, all you’re doing is conning people out of money.’

  She stomped off up the street, away from me.

  Desperate, I ran after her. ‘Ketty, wait! I’ll get us a cab. Come back.’

  ‘You think you’re so special, but you’re just making money by cheating people,’ she shouted. ‘You’re pathetic.’

  We were right at the top of the hill now, at the main crossroads of town. Loads of people were milling about. Several of them stopped what they were doing to stare at Ketty yelling.

  ‘Please, Ketty.’

  A bus going back to school pulled up at the bus stop a few metres down the road. Ketty broke into a sprint. ‘Leave me alone,’ she yelled.

  Seconds later she’d jumped onto the bus and it had zoomed away.

  I stood, looking after the bus. My hair was plastered to my head and my clothes stuck to my body. Rain pounded all around me. A drop trickled down the back of my neck. But I was barely aware of anything other than the cold, hard stone which had lodged in the pit of my belly.

  Everything I’d done had been for Ketty.

  And it had all been for nothing.

  I arrived back at school soaked through, having walked all the way instead of waiting for another bus or catching the cab I could easily have afforded. A furious Fergus met me at the front door.

  ‘I’ve been trying to call you for half an hour,’ he snapped. ‘Ed’s just explained you’ve been with Jack Linden . . . using your telekinesis. How could you, Nico . . .? After everything you promised.’

  I hung my head and stood, dripping, on the school front step. I was so full of what Ketty had said to me, so numb with misery, that Fergus’s anger didn’t really touch me.

  This clearly infuriated him further. ‘Get upstairs and get dry,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Ed told me you’ve been in a bar which I suppose means I won’t get any sense out of you until tomorrow morning, but we’ll be talking first thing, young man.’

  A pulse of irritation flickered through me at the thought of goody-goody Ed grassing on me. I was about to explain that, apart from a few sips of beer, I’d drunk nothing stronger than Coca-cola all evening, when it occurred to me I’d much rather defer Fergus’s ‘talk’ until morning, if I possibly could.

  Fergus insisted that I handed over my winnings. I gave him the two fifty-pound notes without protesting, then made my way, soggily, up to bed. The dorm was empty. It was still only nine-thirty on a Saturday night, after all. I took my clothes off and crawled under the covers. I closed my eyes, but could still see Ketty’s angry face. I screwed my eyes tighter shut, feeling tears prick against the lids. A huge sob welled up from my guts but I forced it back, just as my mobile rang from my trouser pocket.

  Was that her?

  I leaned out of bed and fished out the phone. Jack calling. I hesitated before answering. Frankly, I didn’t care if I ever spoke to Jack again. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have lost Ketty.

  I answered on the sixth ring.

  ‘Nico, my man.’ Jack sounded cheerful and breezy. ‘I won’t keep you, as I’m sure you’d rather be with Ketty than—’

  ‘I’m not with Ketty,’ I interrupted, my anger rising again. ‘Thanks to you, she hates me.’

  ‘What?’ Jack sucked in his breath.

  I explained, briefly, what had happened after we left the bar. ‘You were wrong about her seeing me as some sort of hero,’ I went on, bitterly. ‘And you were wrong about Ed keeping quiet, as well – he came straight back to school and told Fergus everything.’

  ‘What?’ Jack snarled. ‘And what’s that idiot going to do?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I stammered, shocked by the sudden fury in his voice. It might be okay for me to say Fergus was an idiot, but it didn’t feel right when Jack did it. I took a deep breath. ‘Anyway, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. Fergus says he wants to talk to me in the morning. And I don’t think he’s planning on raising my allowance.’

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Jack said through gritted teeth. ‘I had no idea either Edward or Ketty would react like they have.’

  ‘Yeah, well . . .’ I tailed off.

  More silence.

  ‘Jack?’

  ‘I’m just thinking,’ he said, sounding a little calmer than before, ‘. . . about you talking to Fergus.’

  ‘What about it?’ I sighed inwardly. No doubt Jack was going to suggest I concealed as much as possible about Geri Paterson and the demonstration she’d just forced me and Ed to give.

  ‘I think you should tell Fergus everything,’ Jack went on.

  I sat up, surprised. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. I feel very guilty that, thanks to me, there’s a wedge being driven between the two of you.’

  I frowned. Jack didn’t sound like he felt guilty.

  ‘Well, we weren’t exactly close before,’ I said.

  ‘Still, I was wrong to encourage you to keep secrets from your stepdad.’ Jack paused. ‘Ther
e’s only one thing I’d appreciate you not mentioning . . .’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘The fact that we’re looking for the fourth person with the Medusa gene.’

  ‘You mean Viper?’ I said, remembering the code name Geri had told Ed and me about earlier.

  ‘Yes. Whatever you think of me you have to understand that my only objective is to help you and the others come to terms with your gift. That’s what Geri wants too – she might be an overbearing, control freak with too much power at her disposal, but she’s not a bad person. She wants to help. And if Fergus knows we’re looking for Viper, he might take steps to make sure we never reach her.’

  ‘Tell me who you and Geri work for,’ I said.

  ‘I can’t right now, not over the phone,’ Jack insisted. ‘It’s too complicated. But I promise I’ll tell you soon.’

  I thought about what Jack was asking. He had a point – whatever else he’d done, he had certainly helped me use my telekinesis. I had no reason to doubt that, whoever Jack was working for, all he wanted was to understand the effects of the Medusa gene experiment and to help me and the others develop our abilities. After all, if he’d wanted to hurt me he could have done so very easily already. And the same was true of Geri.

  ‘So, will you keep your eyes open for any information?’ Jack hesitated. ‘I mean, I know you must feel that you’ve been really manipulated, especially with Geri weighing in like she did this evening . . .’

  ‘Yeah,’ I grunted.

  ‘Well, all I can say is that I would have handled things differently if she hadn’t been there.’ Jack cleared his throat. ‘As for Ketty, I’m not big on giving advice but, bloke to bloke, here’s what I know about girls. Only a few are the real deal. If Ketty didn’t really matter, then don’t waste time on hurt pride. With your looks I can’t imagine you’ll have any problem landing someone else. But if she is special, then fight for her. Give her a chance to cool down, then find her. Explain how you feel. If it’s meant to be, she’ll listen.’

  The call ended and I fell asleep soon after, in a slightly more hopeful state of mind.

  The next morning I decided Jack was right. It was Sunday, a day Ketty always went for a long run. I’d give it until the afternoon, then try and talk to her again.