Darkside Read Free

attend; and sometimes, at least, that was true.
    That day the prospect of double maths had seemed too much to cope with, and Jonathan had slipped out of the school’s back gate during lunch. As he was crossing London Bridge, the gleaming superstructures of Canary Wharf had caught his eye. He caught a tube train on the Jubilee Line and headed down there, making sure not to catch anyone’s eye as they rattled along the Underground. By the time he had arrived it was mid-afternoon, and there were dark smudges at the edge of the cold, bright autumn sky. The broad streets and squares were still busy with people hurrying from one place to another. They kept their heads down, as if cowed by the monstrous glass buildings that reared up on all sides.
    In the distance, Jonathan made out the familiar silhouette of a policeman walking down the access road towards him. It was time to move. If they started asking questions, you were done for. Trying to look as casual as possible, he walked away from the rail and headed back between two buildings towards the centre of the Wharf. The policeman shouted something at him but he pretended not to hear. As soon as he was round the corner, he broke out into a run.
    Jonathan might not have been broken any records on the athletic track, but in a chase through London streets he was untouchable. He zigzagged past office workers and shoppers, cutting through a small green park where people were ice-skating across a makeshift rink. They twirled and flowed in graceful arcs as Jonathan hared past them. He heard the policeman shout again, but it was a long way back and he was losing ground all the time. Jonathan ignored the entrance to a vast shopping centre, preferring to stick to the open spaces. Shopping centres had CCTV cameras and store detectives, and were always on the lookout for kids nicking stuff. He was safer out here.
    He crossed a couple of streets and found himself in a small square. A fountain tossed soothing splashes of water into the air. In the corner a small kiosk was selling coffee and snacks. The roads around the square were quiet, and there was a sense of stillness about the place that reassured Jonathan. Glancing around, he could see that he had lost the policeman. He was safe for now. He settled down on a marbled wall and caught his breath.
    On one side of the square three massive buildings soared high above him, standing shoulder to shoulder beneath the clouds. The largest one was in the middle, and at its summit a light flashed on and off to warn low-flying planes of its presence. Just craning his neck up to see it made Jonathan feel small and insignificant. He wondered what it most be like to work on the top floor, to spend every day looking down on the rest of the world.
    It was then that the woman caught his eye. She was jauntily crossing the square, clad in a pinstripe suit and tapping an umbrella on the ground as she went. A bowler hat was perched elegantly on one side of her head, allowing a cascade of fluorescent pink hair to fall away. Although no one else seemed to have noticed her, there was something about the woman that mesmerized Jonathan, and made it very difficult to take his eyes off her. She saw him watching her, and gave him a broad grin. Changing direction mid-stride, she began to head towards him, sending a ripple of sensation down Jonathan’s skin that was as unsettling as it was unexplainable.
    At the same time, the policeman entered the square from the other side, huffing and puffing and red-faced from his exertions. Jonathan got up slowly and began to edge away towards the exit. Seeing his pursuer, the woman winked at Jonathan and put a finger over her lips. She then approached the policeman, and began to ask him a long-winded question. Jonathan didn’t need a second invitation – he turned and ran. Whoever that woman was, she had done him a big favour.
    He was nearing the tube station when his phone began ringing in his pocket, making him