Ravensborough Read Free

soothingly.’ We can head in tomorrow after work and pick up everything you need.’
    ‘Can I not pick them up myself?’ I asked. ‘It would give me something to do, rather than sit around here reading all day.’ The idea of spending yet another day alone in the house was not appealing.
    ‘I don’t know, you haven’t been into the city yet,’ Mum said worriedly. ‘You mightn’t be able to find your way around.’
    ‘There’s a large shopping centre in the city that’s really easy to get to,’ Rupert said to Mum, unexpectedly coming to my defence. ‘She’ll probably get everything she needs there.’
    ‘See?’ I said to Mum as I took a bite out of my toast. ‘I’ll be fine.’
    Armed with the lists, a guidebook and a heavy duty jacket I braved the outside world. The air outside was cool and crisp, and dark green conifers contrasted with the stark grey sky above. I found the Chesterfield underground station relatively easily and managed to buy a ticket to the Ravensborough central area without too much difficulty, struggling with the coins of Avalonian krone. I hadn’t managed to make head or tail of the currency yet.
    I got a seat on the train, and it slid through a series of stations with names that I’d never heard of. Bessborough I recognised, because the school that I was going to was called Bessborough High School. Chesterfield Academy, the school nearest to Rupert’s house, was a fee-paying institution that you had to enrol in years in advance. There was no chance that I could get a place there at this stage, so I was going to the next best place a school in the nearby suburb of Bessborough.
    I wondered what my friends back home were doing. They were probably making the most of their last few days of their summer holidays before returning to school in September.
    I got off the train at Guinevere Plaza, a wide open square with an ornate fountain at its centre. Yellowstone buildings, around five stories tall, surrounded the square and the pavements were crowded with people hurrying to various places, trying not to trip over buskers and street performers. The shops in the square all looked expensive, and one or two of the building held flags of European countries. I guessed that they were embassies.
    I followed the directions that Rupert had given to get to the shopping centre. When I got there I found that the uniform was as bad as I had imagined it would be. The red shade did indeed clash with my hair, while the jumper looked frumpy and heavy. At least it seemed warm, which I supposed was a bonus here. I got all the textbooks I would need, and a flick through the textbook on Avalonian history made me feel a little woozy. I knew none of this. I guessed that I wouldn’t have to look too hard to find something to do with my free time until school started.
    I paid for the items, stumbling again as I tried to work out which note was which. I’d planned on doing some exploring to get a feel for the city, but the bags were really heavy. Still, I knew how to get here now. I could come in and explore another day.
    On my way to the underground station to return home, I saw a protest rally outside a police station. There were around thirty people outside, each holding a placard that bore various slogans such as ‘Stop This Injustice’ and ‘Protect Pagans Rights’. A trestle table was set up at the front of the protest, decorated with the same slogans that were on the posters. Glossy leaflets were piled high on its surface weighed down under large stones, and a guy around my age was standing behind with a clipboard trying to get signatures from people walking by.
    I walked over to the table to see what the protest was about.
    ‘Would you like to sign the petition?’ he asked, smiling at me.
    He was cute, with lightly tanned skin that looked strangely exotic in the gloomy grey winter light. His hair was jet black and his eyes were dark and almost the same colour as his hair.
    ‘I’m sorry, I can’t.