Chow mein for everyone. Seems like the easiest option. Nathan picks up some drinks but I'm not touching them. The last thing I want is to get sleepy. Mary looks shifty when we get back but my whiteboard looks fine. I just want to get this meal over with and see Raven.
He opens the door even before I can knock, buzzing so hard he's practically vibrating. Do I want some? Yes, of course I want some of whatever supercharged amphetamine he's got his hands on, because trying to skip an entire night's sleep was such a great idea last time. And the time before. Yeah. Go on then.
It's not long before I'm spilling out the whole story of last night's nightmare. Of course he can only restrain himself for a few minutes before reaching for his moleskine to start taking notes. By the time I finish he's actually got his guitar down and is strumming chords. All the same, I feel better. It's good to know someone is listening.
Of course I fell asleep when the speed wore off. Just rested my eyes for a moment, and then it's morning and I've got shit to do. I go into the bathroom to splash some water on my face. When I look up again there's something behind me in the mirror. A corpse. Flayed and bloody. And with a long black tongue emerging from its mouth and reaching out for me.
I find myself screaming and scrambling to get out of the room, somehow get past that monster. And then I'm back leaning against Raven's bed with him asleep beside me. No monster. Just another nightmare. Except there's a trail of blood drops leading from the bathroom to where I'm sitting. I check the bathroom. I check myself for injuries. Nothing. All the same I don't feel safe here any more. I drape the duvet over Raven and go back to my own flat.
Mary's still there, sleeping on the floor in her sleeping bag. I let her sleep. I've got to get ready. Today I'm visiting some fancy school and that means putting my professional face on, including not looking like I'm coming down from whatever Raven gave me. By the time I'm ready Mary's waking up. She's got a request, and after abandoning her with Nathan last night I'm feeling like I should help her.
She wants to know about some weird herb thing. Rosemary gathered by white sickle light, then something about burning it thrice times three. It takes some time and yet another cup of coffee goes cold while I'm searching but finally I get what she wants. It's some pagan thing she wants to try to help Nathan remember stuff from the cult. I guess anything any of us can learn is going to be helpful. Rosemary sprigs picked by the light of a crescent moon. There's a shop in Camden Lock market that sells stuff like that: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Raven gets his candles there. I give her directions and she's on her way. I'd like to make sure she's alright, but I've got the best lead I've had on Lily Rose in years and I've got to take it.
I put on my best telephone voice and call the school. The perky receptionist Rachel seems to buy my story that I'm researching the school's history, but the moment I ask about records, her attitude changes. She's following protocol. I need to give her a reason to break it. So I tell her I'm a private detective investigating a kidnapping case. Not that far from the truth, after all, and it works. I give her my own name - no harm if she searches and finds my website after all. And sure, my website does register one more view.
Rachel says she can let me in but otherwise insists that I'm on my own, handing me an incomplete visitor badge and telling me where to meet her on her break. I follow her directions and immediately run into her sister. I have to show her the incomplete visitor badge, and manage to convince her it was just an error, but I'm not going to be on Rachel's good side after she gets a dressing down from her sister.
It's easy enough to find the records room, but waiting for Rachel no longer seems like a good idea. I'm just going to have to break in. The lock's new and I have to pick it properly instead of a quick bump, but I'm in. There's a row of computers and shelves of binders. I'm looking for stuff from nearly thirty years ago, so I take the paper files first. I soon find the right folder with a list of pupils on the cover, including Webb, L. Inside there's just a note saying that the records have been digitised. Shit.
I snap a picture of the folder and head for the computers. No post-it with the password, but the underlined name on a bust of the school's founder does the job. I plug in a USB stick, put in the appropriate search parameters and find...nothing. Did I get something wrong? I try again, different variations, different years, whatever. Nothing. And then finally I get a hit. On the teacher's database. Lilian Rose Webb. She's a TA. She's in an RE class right now.
I should leave, I tell myself as I put the room back how I found it. I should wait until school is over and everyone is leaving, I tell myself as I lock the door and walk towards the RE classroom. Nobody stops me. I look through the window, past the teacher to the TA. It's her. It's her, but she hasn't changed. She hasn't aged a day since I last saw her, over twenty years ago.
I've made a mistake. I must have. I don't know how I fucked this one up so badly. I'm going to leave. but then there's a voice behind me. I know her voice. Lily? I ask. She says she goes by Lilian at work to be professional. Does she know me? I don't know. I don't know anything any more. I don't even know how to answer. I hand her my business card. She smiles, and says one word. Peachy. And at once I can see her back at Paradise Gardens, over and over, smiling at me and saying that same word.
It's nice to meet you, Miss May, she says. You too, I tell her. But she has to get back to work.
I'm leaving. I'm going home. I need to find Raven. He's got to have something that'll fuck me up enough to stop thinking for a while.
Then on the bus I get a text. It's Raven.
And fair morrow to my splendiferous muse! After our conversation last night I have composed not one but three new poems and have convinced Beatrice to let me perform them in her establishement this evening - Lily has already promised to be in attendance, can I count on you blessing me with your presence as well?
What the fuck? What the actual fuck is he playing at?
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