Page 13 of Slouch Witch
I waited outside the Supply Office while Winter went in to get what I supposedly needed to trail after him like a forlorn puppy. A collar and lead, perhaps. Or I’d get lucky and he’d pick up some treats to make sure I sat like a good girl and gave him a paw when he needed it. Whatever. He could carry all that stuff around if he wanted to. I wasn’t going to help. Unfortunately, electing to stay in the corridor wasn’t a good move. I wasn’t left alone to enjoy the temporary peace for long.
The trouble with the Order headquarters – and indeed most bureaucratic building – is that they’ve been designed with total lack of imagination. They might look impressively ancient from the outside and might well be thoughtfully constructed and a testament to the age in which they are built, but inside they’re a box. Criss-crossing offices in grid formation; boxes upon boxes upon beige wall-covered boxes. Google this ain’t.
It also means there are long corridors so, from my position at the end of one hallway, I could see perfectly to the other end. My view wasn’t blocked by the tired-looking photocopier dumped outside, nor was it hampered by the stack of fire-risk cardboard boxes. So when Tarquin Willingham of Posh Street, London, appeared two hundred metres away, I could do nothing but watch his approach. In theory it gave me time to prepare the right words; in practice, it ramped up my dismay. I guess I knew now who Anthea had sought out after I bumped into her in the quad. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Tarquin was dressed more casually than Winter; he wore a suit but it was minus both a jacket and tie. I wondered whether he’d taken them off – the Order’s equivalent of rolling up your sleeves. Then I decided I didn’t care.
‘I’m surprised you’re here alone,’ I called, as soon as he got close. ‘Aren’t you afraid I might hurt you again?’
Tarquin tsked. ‘I’ve spent the last eight years living and breathing the Order, Ivy. I think it’s fair to say that I’ve probably got skills now that you can only dream about.’
Somehow I doubted that. ‘What do you want, Tarq?’
He ran a hand through his blond hair. The style was artless, giving the impression that he’d merely run a comb through it. I had a feeling that it took him a lot longer to get it the way he wanted it. With Tarquin, appearances were everything.
‘It’s good to see you again,’ he said.
‘I’d say the same,’ I told him, ‘but then I’d be a big, fat liar.’
Something sparked in his eyes and he dropped all pretence of politeness. ‘How did you do it?’
I inspected my fingernails. ‘Do what?’
‘Wheedle your way back in here. What lies did you tell them?’
‘You’re the liar, not me. Or have you rewritten history in your own head as well as everyone else’s?’
‘If you’re here to cause trouble—’
I cocked my head, amused. ‘Then what? What will you do, Tarq? Because I think you’ve pretty much done everything already.’
‘Look,’ he hissed. ‘I told you I was sorry. I didn’t mean to get caught cheating and I didn’t mean for you to take the blame.’
‘You didn’t own up though, did you?’
‘Ivy, you know what my father is like. If he found out—’
‘Aw, diddums. Life must be so tough for you, Tarquin. Painted as the victim of nasty, plagiarising Ivy Wilde.’ My eyes gleamed. ‘Tell me, did you ever master that protective spell or do you still steal from others to cover up your own failings?’
‘I don’t need to steal. I’m highly respected here these days, Ivy. I’ve come a long way since then. Adeptus Exemptus Winter knows it. He knows that…’
‘Adeptus Exemptus Winter knows what?’
We both turned. Winter was standing there, holding a box and gazing at Tarquin with a hard question in his eyes.
Tarquin swallowed. ‘You know that Ivy will be able to start afresh. That she’s not the same person she was eight years ago and she can wipe the slate clean. It’s very good of you to give her a second chance.’
He just couldn’t help himself. He was so desperate to avoid his name being tarnished that he’d keep up his web of lies and deceit even though no one cared. Certainly not me. Frankly, he’d done me a favour all those years ago. If I’d not been blamed for his actions, I’d never have experienced how good it was to be truly free. I’d have been an Order zealot like the rest of them.
‘Hmm,’ Winter said. ‘Don’t you have errands to run for Adeptus Major Price? I’m sure you’re not here just for yourself.’
Relieved to be given the chance to escape, Tarquin nodded vigorously. ‘I do, Adeptus. I’d better get a move on. Thank you so much. I take my duties very seriously, as you know.’ He didn’t look at me as he said this last part but I knew it was a dig. Then he bowed and scurried away, like the weasel he was.
Winter and I watched him go. As soon as he was out of earshot, Winter glanced at me. ‘Do you want to tell me what that was really about?’
‘Nope.’
‘Hmm,’ he said again.
