Tanya would have liked to say that she’d taken the news well, confidently pulled up her friend's Interface to work out what sort of position she was in, and brainstormed how she could now reach her mum.
In reality, she had a panic attack.
All she could think was that if her mum or brother—or even annoying stepdad Peter—died before she contacted them again, she wouldn’t have ended the call saying she loved them. She couldn’t stop staring at the messages, even though she knew it was a waste of battery. If she’d known this would be the last they spoke for who knows how long she would have called sooner. She was so glad to hear from Maria, but now would her Mum ever trust the classes? How could they survive if it got worse and they kept just blindly following government advice?
Tanya perched on the sofa, wringing her wrists with tense knuckles. The summoned hand crept over to her and grasped her wrist too, disappearing back into her arm like it hadn’t been gone.
Now that she was no longer buried in the screen she ached. Without Maria’s voice or the struggle of how to get through to her mum, all she could think about was the dull throbbing of her head and the way her fingers felt like they needed to crack no matter how many times she did.
I need to make sure I don’t get carpal tunnel.
Tanya wrestled the blanket around her shoulders. It was far larger than it needed to be, her gran had more time to knit than she had things to make so all of her creations were abnormally large.
She stumbled into bed and pulled up Maria’s sheet. If she couldn’t give her friend more advice, she could at least see how she got on. Her chest ached that she couldn’t do the same with her family.
* * *
Information
Name: Maria Isabella López
Number: 10,567,455
Class: Occult Herbalist
Level: 1
Attributes
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 12
Vitality: 11
Concentration: 6
Will: 8
Achievements
Worthy, Unique Circumstances, Friend Shaped
Abilities
The Root of Recovery
Apothecary
Atropa belladonna, Digitalis purpurea, Aconitum napellus, Mandragora
officinarum, Dionaea muscipula
* * *
She recognised Worthy and Unique Circumstances but opened Friend Shaped. It brought on a flicker of a smile. Moving her cheeks freed a teardrop to patter onto her pillow. She hadn’t been focused on her eyes watering until then.
Friend Shaped, that’s so very Maria.
* * *
Friend Shaped
Their gift was more than just magic, it was a piece of them. When death came knocking, you answered with their power, and in that moment, they stood behind you.
Tattoos created by 10056 are given a boon.
* * *
Shivers ran down Tanya’s back. She didn’t know how to feel about being mentioned in Maria’s achievements. She supposed it wasn’t strange if Adder had gotten one for someone dying for him.
How do you decide what should be an Achievement?
Error: Restricted Information.
She muttered the error message over the top of The System.
The idea that people could influence each other's levelling was equal parts beautiful and terrifying to Tanya. She wondered if it could happen against someone’s will. The thought drifted away just as quickly in her sleepy haze.
* * *
The Root of Recovery
You can replace parts of your body with plant matter, granting enhanced regeneration and magical effects. Synergy and difficulty caring for this plant matter both increase with the volume of it in your body.
Conversion from flesh to plant matter cannot be undone.
* * *
Tanya furrowed her brow. Maria hadn’t mentioned changing her body with plant life. She supposed maybe Maria hadn’t used it yet, especially considering she didn't even know how to open her Interface. It was an interesting power.
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Is it ‘cause of the wheelchair?
She wasn't certain whether Maria would want to walk again. Maria politely told everyone who said how sad it was that she couldn't walk, that she had no memory of walking and didn’t mind. It had taken Tanya a long time to bring it up properly. She always saw the glint in Maria’s eye when she had to tell yet another person that no it wasn't sad that she couldn’t walk, and yes she’s fine, and yes she has a job. The memory hit her right as she stared at the electric candles next to her television. They looked exactly like the ones in Maria’s childhood bedroom.
Maria was transferring from her chair to a big cushion on the floor. Tanya had realised long ago it wasn’t worth asking Maria if she wanted help moving around, she never did. She watched Maria’s pink sparkly nails grip around each of her legs and manoeuvre them to the cushion. Tanya was old enough to realise she shouldn’t stare but young enough she was oblivious to how obvious her glances were.
How close even were we? This must’ve been in our second or third sleepover.
Thinking about it like that changed the feel of the memory slightly. She could remember the nervousness and how many times she’d packed her bag to make sure she had everything she needed.
“You can just say stuff.” Maria had said, catching her looking.
“But I don’t want to be like the… you know…” Tanya played with her long French plaits. She had long hair back then. Tanya remembered wishing she’d had it down already to hide her flushing cheeks.
Maria’s face was blank. She tilted her head.
Tanya grew quieter. “I don’t want to be like the people who do yer ‘ead in with questions.”
“Oh,’ Maria said, “You won't.” She wrinkled her nose like a rabbit and pushed her glasses up her nose like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Tanya didn’t know what to say to that.
“They annoy me because they don’t ask me things, they just assume. You’re not like that. I don’t mind when people ask.”
Tanya had balked. She’d never thought of it that way. In fact, she hadn’t thought of it much at all until Maria had invited her around. Sat in a classroom around the same table it was easy to forget about the wheelchair, and Maria arrived earlier and left later to avoid the crowds, so she’d not noticed it much.
Tanya looked around, nervous that her mum or Mrs López would come in and tell her off for asking intrusive questions.
“Um, why can’t you walk?” Tanya eventually ventured.
“It’s called Spina Bifida.”
“Spine-a what-a?” Tanya asked.
Maria laughed. “Spina Bifida. My spine didn’t connect properly when I was a foetus so I can't feel my legs.” Maria whispered foetus and looked away like she always did when she was nervous. It was back in the days when everyone got embarrassed using any words from sex education classes.
“At all?” Tanya asked.
“I can feel some,” Maria said. “Wii bowling?”
Tanya grinned. “Yes. I’ve been practising so beware!”
Maria wriggled forward to set it up.
“Do you wish you could walk?” The words escaped Tanya’s lips before she could help it. Her heart lurched. “Sorry I’m-”
“Tanya,” Maria bellowed. It was a much louder voice than Tanya knew could come out of Maria. She smiled and pushed her glasses up her nose again. ‘It’s fine.”
Maria passed Tanya a remote and got the game up. Tanya wasn’t sure if she was going to answer but then she paused.
Her voice was measured and she was looking into space with a furrowed brow like she was staring at a math problem. “I think I would if it was the only thing they could give me.”
“Who?” Tanya said both bewildered about her asking the question and Maria’s answer.
Maria shrugged, “The genie or whoever is giving me working legs.”
“What would you want instead?” Tanya asked. She’d stopped playing with her plaits now, it felt more like their usual whispered class conversations now.
“Oh, most things. I wish my parents weren’t breaking up.”
“Yeah that’s rough,” Tanya said.
“Getting my own greenhouse would be cool. So would getting a little sister…” She thought for a few seconds. “Legs would be cool but I think I’d rather just give everywhere a ramp. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah it does,” Tanya replied, feeling both like Maria had blown her mind and also said nothing interesting at all.
They’d spent the rest of that summer making a portable ramp with Tanya’s dad. That one had died long ago to a mistimed wheelie but she still had one of the later versions behind her suitcases in the cupboard.
Dad.
Tanya wondered what powers her dad would have, and what he’d say about all this. She decided he’d be some kind of artificer and the thought brought a smile to her face.
Tanya rolled over, pulling the blanket further over her. She should sleep or brainstorm or eat or something, but instead, she grabbed the book off her bedside table and tried to care about Alice-May and the equal parts cringe and exciting love triangle between Alice-May, the charismatic lawyer, and her ex-turned-boss.
Tanya didn’t remember falling asleep. Her book was propped open near her head, it was shut now without the bookmark in. There was another bang and she remembered the first waking her up.
Why’s it so dark?
She stumbled out of bed, groggy and in crumpled clothes. The world didn’t feel real- like she’d slept for hours but also no time at all. The bang was louder this time and she spun towards it, it was the other side of her bedroom wall, not towards her flat, towards the flat next door. It took her brain a moment too long to work out that was Mrs Eceers's side, rather than the students away for their long Christmas break. She backed towards the door, not taking her eyes off the wall. The next bang pushed the photo of her and her family off the wall, it smashed on the floor. Even though Tanya had been watching the whole time, it made her jump.
She flicked the switch and nothing happened.
Right, no electricity.
She crept through the living room, crouching and sticking out her hands so she didn’t bump into the coffee table. Every sound made her heart lurch. The banging continued. She used the loud noises to move the roller-shutters little by little. It made a loud screeching sound usually. With each nudge it clattered, inch by inch. She didn’t want to get the attention of whatever was banging.
She was sure by now it wasn't Mrs Eceer. She could have maybe managed the quieter ones but now, with every thud, Tanya felt the floor shake slightly.
The streetlamp was out for the first time since Tanya had lived here, but the gentle light of the moon flooded the flat with a cool glow.
Now what? A weapon.
She’d made that mistake enough times now; never again.
She opened the cupboard, settling on a firm pull during the next thud instead of doing it slowly. It creaked so loudly either way that at least this was fast. She knew she didn’t want a knife so she just had to pray that her ex never took his cricket bat. She rooted in an old gym bag until it was firmly in her hands.
There was a tingling on her wrist and the hand crawled out. All she could do was stare. The way it moved reminded her of a tarantula in all the creepiest ways. The hand jumped down with a quiet thud and scuttled over to the kitchen, pulling the largest carving knife out of the block with a clink. It flailed it wildly, seeming satisfied, but then dropped it as soon as it started trying to move. Grabbing a smaller one, it succeeded.
Tanya held the bat down across her legs, she had no idea if that was how she was supposed to hold it, but she’d only ever used a bat playing cricket so cricket moves were the best she had. She looked down beside her and saw the hand creeping with her, knife balanced on top of it with one finger steadying it whilst the others ran to keep up. In that position, it reminded her of a battering ram.
Her brain was starting to warm up now, the thoughts no longer coming a second after she’d realised she should think about something.
System, show me Attributes.
* * *
Attributes
Strength: 8/9
Dexterity: 13/16
Vitality: 8/10
Concentration: 6/7
Will: 9/13
* * *
Not too bad. Later on, she’d try to work out the speed they recovered, but all she needed to know now was that most of them were better.
Tanya bent down to lift the hand and placed it on her shoulder before descending the staircase. After a few steps, she was low enough to see under the white block of ceiling that stuck out with some pipes in it and through the glass on the door.. She saw the monsters straight away but it took her a moment to realise what she was looking at. They were flashes of black—too quick to process until one slowed enough to show its large human-like eyes.
There was a crackle from inside her flat and a booming tinny voice. “Pssht- Warning that monsters have—“
The door swung closed behind her. She stopped dead, eyes wide.
Muffled words slipped through the cracks in the door. “…past…barricades….escape….protection.”
The radio from Adder.
Tanya spun on her heel and dashed to grab it. It was too late. The monsters had heard it too.
BONUS CHAPTERS
Followers (500):
Ratings (100):
