Page 105 of Breaking the Dark

“Just heading into the village,” says Polly.

Amina’s face lights up. “Are we going to meet Peach?”

“Not yet. No. But soon.”

Amina nods, disappointed, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap.

“What’s in those?” asks Audrey, pointing at the gigantic suitcases that Polly ordered specially from Amazon last week.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Now, when we get there, girls, I need you to stay really quiet. Just talk in your indoor voices and don’t do anything until I tell you to. Okay?”

The girls nod and Polly shuts the back doors of the van and climbs into the passenger seat up front with Arthur.

Arthur looks grim-faced and slightly nauseous. Polly punches him lightly on his leg and says, “Cheer up! It’s finally happening! Aren’t you excited?”

“No,” says Arthur. “I mean, I’m happy that you’re happy. But I’m not happy about those girls. Their poor parents…”

“Their poor parents sent them to bloody boarding school, Arthur. They clearly don’t give a shit about them. At least they’ve been shown some true love and affection the last year. They’ve had home-cooked food and been tucked up in bed every night by someone who actually cares about them.”

It’s not really Polly’s thing, but she has to admit it’s been a little sweet watching how attached Ophelia has become to the girls over the past year and a half, how much she has loved the role of caring for them all. And they in turn have become truly attached to her. It was tough getting her to let go of these two today. Polly has never seen Ophelia cry before. But at least she still has Belle.

Now they wait at the gates of the grounds until there is nothing coming and then pull out onto the lane. The atmosphere in the van is dark and overwhelming and for the first time since she started planning for today, Polly feels a small wave of nervousness. What if it doesn’t work? She can’t go back to being a stay-at-home beauty influencer operating from behind a filter, she can’t go back to being normal. Because Polly was not put on this planet to be normal. She was put here to change things, and everything that has happened since she entered Ophelia’s booth on Portsmouth pier has been leading up to this moment. It was all predestined, all of it. She has brought focus and purpose to the lives of Arthur and his parents—what were they before? Just grifters and losers, going from caravan park to caravan park, staying under radars, keeping their incredible secrets and incredible talents hidden away instead of using them for the greater good. Whatever happens, she thinks, at least they will have done something.

Polly pictures glass boxes on California hillsides, full of the most brilliant minds in the world trying to work towards the place that she, Arthur, Ophelia, and John have reached in a small scruffy corner of England, and still not getting there.

But her little family has done it.

And not just that, but they’re leagues ahead.

While the rest of the world is chattering about AI and the death of people’s jobs and livelihoods, she and Arthur have harnessed it and taken it to the next level. Thanks to the untapped power of the blood light, the ethereal essence that lives all over the earth, living and breathing just under its surface but unknown to anyone but the most bloodthirsty, they have crashed through the boundaries of what modern technology is capable of and brought it to the next level—and beyond. Thanks to Arthur’s super-boosted brain, Ophelia’s magic powers, John’s obsession with blood, and Polly’s ruthless pursuit of perfection, they have made a product that will bring about the death of the beauty, cosmetic surgery, and fitness industries, not to mention life coaching and therapy. It will bring about total and utter freedom from the shackles of impossible beauty standards, the shackles of inadequacy. Imagine a world where everyone feels good. Where nobody feels inadequate.

Just imagine, she thinks, just imagine.

Her nerves settle as they approach Sebastian’s driveway. He’s out of town and has given her keys to the house so that she can oversee the work on the twins’ bedrooms in his absence. There’s nobody around, the village still sleeping. They park the van around the side of the house, out of sight of prying eyes, and Polly unlocks the back doors.

“We’re here, girls.”

“Why isn’t Grace here?” asks Audrey.

“We need her at home, just for now.”

“I miss her.”

It’s not surprising. These three girls have not spent a moment apart for more than a year.

“You’ll see her soon. But before we go in, you need to sanitize your hands.”

It’s their daily ritual. The girls upturn their hands and Polly squirts the gel onto their palms, then they rub them together. Soon they become less inquisitive, ask fewer questions. By the time they are standing in Sebastian’s kitchen, they don’t know or care where they are.

“Okay then, girls, let’s go.” She guides them through the passageway towards the head of the spiral staircase. “This way.”

Arthur throws Polly a terrible, beseeching look, a look that says We don’t have to do this. A look that says We can stop this right now, just say the word.

But Polly has no intention of stopping right now.

She has only just begun.

FORTY-ONE

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