‘Oh yeah, I hadn’t noticed.’ Her voice sounds a little numb, and she pokes at a sole like it belongs to someone else, a mannequin perhaps. The overalls are far too small for her, and the material pulls around her crotch as she tries to inch her shoulders in. ‘I think I’m too tall.’
Saskia kneels in front of her and rips the fabric between her legs. Alice looks slightly horrified at the indignity of the situation, but she keeps quiet and manages to wriggle her shoulders in. The fabric yawns a little between her legs, revealing a flash of electric blue.
Nate laughs. ‘You look like a giant baby, you know, with the opening so you can get to the nappy?’
Alice looks like she’s going to cry.
‘Shut it,’ Saskia snaps at Nate. ‘Or I’ll plonk you over my knee and smack your arse, then we’ll see who looks like the baby.’
Matthew nudges Saskia. ‘And what’s this all about?’ He gestures to Katie, who is still wearing her helix outfit.
They start to laugh again.
Katie wrinkles her nose. ‘It’s a long story.’
‘And you talk funny. Which city you from?’ Matthew asks.
Her eyes flick to mine, slightly panicked.
‘Liverpool,’ I say. I’m sure Liverpool is one of the Imp cities still standing in canon. I look to Nate, who nods a confirmation.
‘Figures.’ Matthew yanks on the tights twisted into the sort-of helix.
‘Hey,’ she says – a token objection at best. The safety pins buckle and give way, and the tights flop to the ground. She looks less conspicuous all in black.
Matthew grunts from the movement and lets his shoulder slump forwards. Blood drips from his fingers and spots the floor. He grimaces, clasping his hand to his shoulder. His shirt sleeve is sodden with blood, fresh blood – one of those bullets must have nicked him. He never even winced. ‘At least she’s clearly an Imp.’ His words slur a little from the pain.
‘We gotta get that shoulder looked at,’ Saskia says.
‘I’m fine,’ he says. ‘Let’s just get to headquarters, they’ll look at it there.’
‘Nah, you’ll pass out before we get there. And you’re too heavy to carry. We can get it sorted on the way. Come on, I know who can fix it up.’ Saskia turns to us, her face dark. ‘You follow us, got it? You make a run for it and I’ll squeal that princess here is a Gem, top of me lungs, then let’s see how well you last.’
We all nod.
‘And try to blend in.’ Matthew shakes his head in despair. ‘Worst bloody spies I’ve ever seen.’
‘Spies my arse,’ Saskia grumbles.
We begin to walk down an old arterial road, completely pedestrianized simply due to the lack of vehicles. I recognize the large expanse of tarmac stretching before us from the film.
‘This place is truly grim,’ Katie whispers.
I nod. Skeletal beams peak through the carcasses of buildings. Polythene or rags are stretched across door frames, and dark stains left by abandoned fires mark the middle of the streets. But the lack of green strikes me above all, more so than in the film. Trees are emaciated and pale, and grass sits in faded, yellow clumps. I see no flowers, no colour. Just a world of grey.
‘Why’s it so quiet?’ Nate whispers.
He’s right. It’s eerily silent. In the film there was this hustle and bustle, malnourished Imps exchanging greetings and insults. I look around and see that all the Imps stand still, glowering at us. More specifically, at Alice.
‘Tuck your hair in your overalls,’ I whisper to her.
She does it quickly and without argument, her eyes locked on her bare feet as they slap the tarmac, like she can’t bring herself to look up and acknowledge the danger. Nate, Katie and I walk around her, surrounding her so the Imps have to see through us to get a proper look. Gradually, the noise picks up and the Imps lose interest. We watch Saskia and Matthew walking in front of us.
‘What’s going on?’ Katie says. ‘Where the hell are we?’
‘We’re in The Gallows Dance,’ I say.
‘Well I kind of figured that out, eventually. What I mean is, how are we in a film or a book or whatever the hell it is?’
Nate snorts. ‘There must have been some sort of temporal shift in reality when the set collapsed at Comic-Con. We’ve entered an alternate universe, the Gallows Dance universe.’
‘In English?’ Katie replies.
‘I don’t chuffing know, do I?’ Nate replies. He laughs a little manically.
I rest a hand on his arm. ‘I think you’re right. It’s some sort of alternate universe – if we were in the film things wouldn’t look so different.’ I realize just how ridiculous it sounds saying it out loud, yet here we are, surrounded by Imps and broken-down buildings, breathing in eau de rotting bird.
‘I think I’m dreaming,’ Alice mumbles to her feet. ‘It’s just a bad dream, and when I wake up I’ll be in bed in my pyjamas.’
‘You’re so self-obsessed,’ Nate says. ‘This could be my dream. It’s not all about you.’
‘This isn’t helping,’ I say. ‘Let’s just keep quiet and try not to get killed.’
‘I don’t think it’s a dream,’ Katie says, her voice a little hollow.
Alice sighs. ‘Me neither. My feet hurt too much for it to be a dream.’
‘How’s Thorn going to help?’ I ask Nate. ‘I know he’s your hero, but in case you’ve forgotten, he’s kind of a psycho.’
He smiles. ‘Thorn isn’t going to help.’
‘Stop talking in bloody riddles,’ Alice says.
Katie nods. ‘Yeah, seriously, if you’ve got a plan you need to tell us.’
‘Not Thorn,’ Nate says. ‘Baba. She’ll tell us how to get home.’
‘Nate! That’s brilliant,’ I say.
‘Er, I’m almost afraid to ask,’ Katie says, ‘but who’s Baba?’
Nate glances at Saskia and Matthew to make sure they aren’t listening, but they’re too engrossed in their own conversation. They’re unaware of Baba’s existence – I know this from canon – and I guess Nate wants to keep it that way. Baba’s precognitive powers are Thorn’s greatest weapon in the fight against the Gems – the fewer people who know about her the better. And Thorn would be beyond pissed off if Nate spilled the beans.
Nate turns to Katie, his voice dipped but his face animated. ‘She’s a total gross-out. She looks like a granny-turned-zombie with all this long grey hair, and her skin covers up her eyes and nostrils, and she has a slit for a mouth and no teeth, and she’s all hunched over like this . . .’ He stoops and screws up his face in an attempt to look like Baba.
‘Yes, but who is she?’ Katie whispers, a little impatient.
I can’t help butting in. I love Baba, she’s one of my favourite characters; she looks terrifying, but she’s always so enigmatic. ‘She was one of the first ever Gems to exist, and the only Gem to survive the first wave of experiments, back when humans were refining the art of genetic enhancement. They over-enhanced her empathy and her immortality, so she can read minds and see the future and she’s survived for centuries. She remembers the world before all the city walls were built and the Gems dropped their bombs.’
Nate grins. ‘She does this really cool thing called a mind blend, where she places her hands on your head and sucks your thoughts from your brain, like a slushy.’
‘And this psychic zombie is at Rebel Headquarters?’ Katie asks.
I nod. ‘Thorn keeps her hidden in an underground chamber.’