On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
five superheroes
Or rather, one story featuring five superheroes split into five parts.
[Title] The North Tower Girls
[Fandom] Malory Towers
[Rating] PG for some violence
[Notes/Summary] AU; five girls, each with a very different talent, team up to protect each other. But what if their most dangerous enemies come from inside?
"So... what is your power, then?" Darrell asked at last.
"Oh." Irene looked round at her, grinned wickedly. "Alicia didn't tell you?"
"Have a heart, Irene," Alicia said from where she was leaning on the back of the sofa. "I may not suffer fools gladly, but I don't reveal other people's secrets without their consent."
Irene laughed. "She'll find out sooner or later - it's hardly a secret, is it? Can I show her?"
"Go ahead."
Irene scrambled off the sofa and hurried out of the room. When she came back, she was clutching a canvas bag which, when she set it down, Darrell could see was lined with neatly folded skeins of wool, each one carefully sealed with a strip of black paper.
"Right," Irene said. "You agree with me that these are all neatly organised? Go on, pick them up if you want. Check for invisible wires -"
"Roll up, roll up, for the greatest show on earth," Alicia put in, laughing.
"Now -" Irene pulled off the gloves she was wearing with a flourish. All the people here wore gloves, Darrell noticed. She thought she could guess why. But even so, Irene's hands were speckled with ink and soot, although they looked very pale against the surface of the bag. She rested her palms on it for a few seconds, then let go and handed the bag to Darrell.
"Go on, look," she said.
Darrell did so, and gasped. All the skeins of wool had come unbound, and were trailing around each other, knotted together, different colours run together like spilt ink.
"How did you..."
"Our dear Irene's power," Alicia said, "is to cause chaos. She's incapable of wearing shoes that lace because they constantly become untied. She can cause any piece of machinery simply to short-circuit by touching it. And while we haven't investigated this, we suspect that she could cause confusion and disorganisation in people simply by laying a gentle hand on their forehead -"
"But there are some problems in testing that," Irene said, "so we can't prove it."
"It certainly seems to hold true for her, however," Alicia said. "Irene takes simple disorganisation to an art form. She's famous at university for - what was it, Irene? Managing to answer a paper on group theory while everyone else was studying metric spaces?"
"I felt like answering a group theory paper," Irene said. "I thought I must have mixed up my timetable."
"Doesn't it..." Darrell swallowed. "Doesn't it make things difficult for you, though? I mean... obviously you can't actually hurt people, but -"
"I wouldn't go that far," Alicia said. "Travelling in vehicles with her, for instance, is always a bit of a risky undertaking." She glanced at Irene. "Not to mention, it's put a damper on her skills as a pianist. When something goes out of tune every time you touch it -"
"Oh, stop it." Irene scowled suddenly. "Don't talk about that, Alicia."
"Whatever you say," Alicia said, lazily. "But you see, Darrell, Irene was my... protege, I suppose you'd call it."
"I wouldn't," Irene said, grinning again as if nothing had happened. "Lab rat, perhaps."
"She was the first person with an unusual attribute I met," Alicia said. "Up until then, I'd been ignoring the signs in myself. Pretending it was just part of my personality. I'm sure you know that way of thinking."
Darrell bit her lip. In some ways, it was worse that Alicia was saying this, rather than asking why didn't you notice that things broke or exploded around you every time you got angry? Because you didn't, that was the thing, you just assumed this was how things were until something so awful happened that you couldn't pretend any more.
"But when I met Irene, I realised what was really going on," Alicia said. "And then I thought, well, why not keep an eye out for others? Plus, it probably helped that her unique skills accidentally caused me to break my leg during a game of lacrosse and my skills meant it had healed after half an hour. It's a bit difficult to pretend when that happens."
Darrell tried not to look too shocked. "You really - you really broke your leg and it - it fixed itself? How do you know it was broken?"
"Because it was like this," Alicia said, making a right-angle shape with the tips of her fingers. "Irene and I watched as it straightened itself out again. It was a very interesting experience, when all's said and done. It certainly cured me of pretending."
"And - and the other two, they don't pretend either?"
"I wouldn't say that," Irene said.
"Mary-Lou's being ridiculous about the whole thing," Alicia said. "She swears blind she doesn't know what I'm talking about, when the main reason she's living here is that her family are too frightened to be near her. She's such a little mouse."
"She's the sort of person who just is mouselike, though, I think," Irene said. "Which makes it ironic, considering what she can do."
"And as for Sally, I have no idea what she thinks she's playing at," Alicia said. "To be quite honest, I think she's one of the most unpleasant people I've ever met."
"She's not that bad," Irene said. "She just doesn't seem to... like people very much. If you want unpleasant, think of Gwendoline Mary." To Darrell, she said, "She's Mary-Lou's best friend. Doesn't have any powers, she just hangs around here because she keeps saying how worried she is about Mary-Lou."
"I think she hangs around here because she wants to know everything about all of us," Alicia said. "She's the sort of person who can't bear anyone except her to have any secrets. Anyway, Darrell - that's us. The North Tower girls, I suppose we would be, although I'm not sure how well we'd do at fighting crime. If you can control that temper of yours, you're welcome to stay."
2.
The sun was still out, but it was an odd, sour colour, and afterwards Darrell realised she should have spotted the clouds rolling up on the horizon.
They were all in the garden - Alicia lying with her face to the sun; Sally hunched over and silent, picking at the grass; Mary-Lou and Gwen chatting on a rug together; Irene lying on her stomach doing homework. Darrell was sitting with her, watching her chew the end of her pencil - every time she did that, the point snapped, and she had to sharpen it, leaving twists of wood in the grass - and every so often, sketch out a flurry of meaningless symbols.
"I don't understand how you can do nothing but maths," she said. "I think I'd go mad!"
"You only think that because it doesn't make sense to you," Irene said. "If you knew what these all meant, it would be fine."
"Well, don't tell me," Darrell said, laughing. "Life is confusing enough at the moment."
Silence for a second except for Alicia's voice in the distance, "Gwen, I don't actually remember asking you over. Not that I don't love your company, but you could treat Mary-Lou in return once in a while, couldn't you?" Gwen mumbling something Darrell couldn't hear.
Then: "Maths isn't confusing," Irene said. "It's the only thing that isn't." She smiled, ruefully. "It just stays as it is. Alicia always said she thought if my powers managed to ruin that, then I could probably unknit the world, so it's jolly good that - oh, bother!" A raindrop had splashed down onto the page, blurring the Greek letters. "This was actually looking neat, too -"
Darrell helped her collect up the papers. Sally was already slouching towards the patio door; she grudgingly held it open until Alicia reached it, then stalked away into the house. Darrell dashed inside and was busy enough helping Irene to put her work back in order that she didn't notice at first what Gwen was doing. When she looked up, she couldn't work it out at first. Gwen was inside, with the rest of them, holding the patio door closed, but Mary-Lou, clutching the blanket, was still outside, struggling with it, the rain spotting her clothes.
"Help her, idiot," Alicia was saying to Gwen. "Don't just stand there -"
There was a sudden boom of thunder and at the same time, the sky flared dull white with lightning. Mary-Lou screamed, and, dropping the rug, wrenched at the door, shaking at the handle. But Gwen was smiling and - and she was holding it shut.
They'd all looked round when Mary-Lou screamed, and Alicia, rolling her eyes, was saying, "Look, you know she's scared of everything, don't you think -" and Sally and Irene weren't saying anything and Mary-Lou was pounding on the glass now, eyes wide and terrified.
"Let her in, why don't you?" Darrell heard herself yell. "She's really scared!"
"I'm just joking," Gwen said, snorting. "Don't be so serious all the time, Darrell."
She was still smiling.
That was what did it.
"Stop it!" she yelled, and she knew the power was about to burst out but that was all right, that was good, she was helping like someone in a comic, and Gwen just rolled her eyes and Darrell felt the power wrench itself free and hurl itself forward, slamming Gwen off her feet. The door flew open, and Mary-Lou dashed inside, sobbing. Rain spattered after her. Irene was already hurrying over, putting an arm round her, but Alicia had marched over to Darrell, grabbed her by the shoulder.
"You stop it," she said.
"I... but she..."
"Look. Go on."
Darrell stared and stared at the dining table, half-slumped where the legs had been wrenched off; the dent in the wall like a two-foot spider's web; the shattered table lamp sent flying to the floor. Gwen was curled up, trembling.
"I... I didn't..."
"Yes, you did," Alicia said. "If you ask me, it's a jolly sight lucky you didn't do worse. You can't just destroy chunks of the house when you don't get your way, you know."
Darrell nearly carried on shouting, lashing out, breaking things down. Once she was pretty sure that she would have done. But now she was going to be better, wasn't she? Hadn't she always said? Just because she could hurt someone badly didn't mean that anyone had to be scared...
She swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. "I... you're right, Alicia. I'm sorry, it... it was stupid of me. I'll tidy it up - pay for repairs... Gwen, are you all right?"
Gwen got to her feet, shaking flecks of broken china out of her hair. She looked over at Darrell, and she looked furious.
"I'm fine," she said. "No thanks to you."
"Well, perhaps if you hadn't tried to scare Mary-Lou silly, the whole thing wouldn't have happened," Alicia said, sounding a little calmer. "Honestly, Gwen, what were you thinking?"
Gwen sniffed, rubbed at her arm. "It was only a joke. She could have killed me."
Alicia was saying something sharp back, but Darrell suddenly didn't want to listen any more. She had nearly killed someone, and suddenly she couldn't bear to look any of these people in the eye. Shaking, she hurried towards the door, when she felt a damp hand clutch at her arm.
"Thank you," Mary-Lou whispered, under cover of the argument brewing behind them. "It... I was so scared."
3.
Sally knew Darrell was outside the door -
[stupid to stand here being such a coward] [she's so cold I don't] [Mary-Lou needs help and I]
- and so she called out, "Come in," because she was too tired and cold to start off with go away. Sometimes she still remembered what it was like being polite to people.
An unnerved pause - [how did she] [oh, of course] [just get on with it!] - and then the door opened and Darrell peered nervously round it. "Sally? I wanted to talk to you... are you busy?" [so dark in here] [does she ever do anything?]
"I don't do much," she said, and Darrell's eyes widened. Sally could remember feeling triumphant about that sort of thing, once (when they called her plain and boring in their heads and she was able to say maybe, but at least I'm not worried about being left back a year and they'd yell at her, how did you know -)
But now she didn't feel triumphant, she just felt tired.
"What do you want?" she said. The window was slightly open and the white curtain was billowing.
Darrell swallowed, and as she spoke her thoughts echoed the words so Sally knew that she wasn't lying. "I'm worried about Mary-Lou. What - what Gwendoline did to her was really horrible, and she was really scared, but she didn't use her powers at all. I heard Alicia talking to Irene, saying that maybe she's suppressed them somehow, but I don't - I can't believe that would happen. I mean - Alicia said that she thought it was unusual - she wanted to study it further. I just... I don't understand why, if someone's really scared, they wouldn't be able to break through any kind of block. She could have ripped the patio door off if she'd tried."
Sally realised she was becoming interested in the question. She didn't want to be, being interested in things just meant they laughed at you when it went wrong and - and -
She swept her powers into Darrell's mind, looking, looking for the scorn she knew would be there -
[why isn't she answering? She's so strange, I can't work out] [what's wrong with her?]
There.
"I don't know why you'd come to ask me for help," she said.
"Alicia and Irene don't believe there's anything odd going on," Darrell said. "And they both find Mary-Lou a little irritating, don't they? And - and -" [you must know] [you can look in people's heads] [just hiding it from me?]
"And I can help you solve the problem by telling you the answer," Sally said, "and then you can take all the credit and make yourself feel better about nearly killing Gwen."
Darrell went pale. Her eyes were like pools of shadow. [I didn't] [not like] [her too?] [I want to help]
"You want to make yourself feel better," Sally repeated.
"No, I don't!" Darrell took a couple of steps forward; the curtain billowed out again. "Mary-Lou's been following me around like a puppy ever since and" [stupid kid] "she needs to learn to stand on her own two feet." [like everyone has to] [I don't deserve] [I don't know what to do!]
This was why Sally didn't let people talk to her, this was why she liked being on her own - how dare Darrell come in here to taunt her that she had no friends, rub it in that she could never be involved in a plan, never form a team? She felt sick and shaky and her own thoughts almost drowned out the hum of Darrell's. "Go away," she stammered out, "go away, do you hear? How dare you come in here and make fun of me?"
"I didn't - this is ridiculous." Darrell's fists were clenched at her sides. "I came here because I wanted your help. You looked angry with Gwen too. I thought you'd understand."
"Get out!"
"Listen to me!" Darrell shouted. "Or are you so busy reading thoughts you don't take in what people say?"
(Afterwards, Sally wondered if she'd wanted to trigger something awful, to make the constant noise stop at last, or just to make Darrell miserable. But at the time, she completely forgot that her opponent was dangerous.) She dived forwards, shoved Darrell back towards the door, and then she heard/felt it -
[Don't you dare!]
The window flew open with a crash and the curtain poured into the room like a ghost and Sally felt the power slam into her, send her flying as if she were in the sea and had been hit by a big wave.
[sorry] [sorry] [is she] [how could I] "Sally, are you all right?"
Sally looked up at her. Darrell's eyes were wide and her hands were shaking a little. She could forgive her.
They could talk.
For goodness sake, hadn't she learnt yet? Furiously, she gritted her teeth, focused on the bruises swelling on her hip and her elbow.
"Go away," she said. "Go away, or I shall tell Alicia you nearly killed me."
[how dare] [no, I] [so sorry!] [wanted to] [wanted to help]
Darrell didn't say anything. At last, she turned and walked away, her thoughts following her like sobbing all down the corridor. Sally stayed sitting on the floor, drew her knees up to her chest. If she could listen to her own thoughts, she knew they would be I don't care. I don't care like sharp regular stitches in a piece of cloth. She didn't care what Darrell Rivers thought of her, and she didn't care about Mary-Lou either. When it came down to it, you couldn't afford to.
4.
In the end, it was the sadness that did it. She could feel Darrell's thoughts hanging in the air, cold and scared and lonely, every time the two of them were both in the house, never mind in the same room. Normally, she didn't care about other people being miserable. Often they deserved it. But Darrell kept thinking about her powers, about how she'd hurt everyone, about how she couldn't control them and how wicked she was. Sometimes Sally caught flickers of what had happened with her and her family, and then caught herself saying, I understand, it was bad for me too as if Darrell had the same power as her and could listen.
Sally had always clung to the knowledge that she wasn't a coward, whatever else she was, and so at last she sought Darrell out in her turn, told her that things were all right, that she herself was no better. Darrell stared at her, and the relief washed over Sally like hot water.
And sometimes Darrell would come and sit by Sally in the garden, offer food or volunteer to get a rug. Sally tried not to think too hard about this, tried not to notice how warm Darrell's thoughts were. If she thought about it, it might all go wrong. So she thought about Mary-Lou instead; Mary-Lou, and Darrell's questions about her.
"She definitely has powers," she said. "Alicia was positive about it. She's just frightened of them."
"But you can't get rid of them just by being scared." Darrell was sitting on the grass munching an apple, frowning as she ate. "And even if you had, surely being scared about something else would - cancel that out. Wouldn't it? Alicia said she saw Mary-Lou lift up a car with one hand once. She should have been able to open that door."
"Maybe it was panic," Sally said. "Maybe she forgot. Like when you're scared and trying to open the front door and can't get your key in the lock. Something like that." Darrell didn't answer - her thoughts were still puzzling over the same questions - and so Sally carried on: "Either she's scared, or something is actually stopping her powers from working. And before you ask, I can't work it out any more than you can. She's just... always nervous. That's all that's in her head." The problem was intriguing her, and so she carried on, half to herself, "If I were a scientist, I'd put her in a situation where she'd really want to use her powers. That would probably explain it."
Darrell wasn't at the house much for a while after that; she took to going out for walks, sometimes with Mary-Lou, sometimes without. Her thoughts seemed purposeful, expectant, but without digging deeper Sally couldn't work out whether she actually had a plan. And she didn't really want to dig deeper. This - this friendship might get crushed if she did.
Both Darrell and Mary-Lou were out when Irene came crashing into Sally's room, tripping over a sudden fold in the carpet as she did: "Come downstairs - on the television - you have to see this!"
On the little black-and-white screen was a reporter, standing in front of a black, smoking ruin of a building. "... no one has been seriously injured in the blaze, thanks to the actions of plucky local girl Mary-Lou Ireson! Miss Ireson and her friend Darrell Rivers were out walking when they spotted the blaze -" The screen cut to Darrell, smeared with soot and with a blanket wrapped round her shoulders.
"I was very foolish," she was saying, but her eyes were glinting and a smile was doing its best to dance across her face. "I saw the flames and I just ran forward to see if anyone was trapped... I didn't think. Mary-Lou ran after me and got me out just in time."
"Onlookers report seeing your friend lift a burning beam blocking her path and throw it out of the way, despite it being twice as tall as she was. Is there any truth in that amazing story?"
"I didn't really see," Darrell said. "All I know is that Mary-Lou saved my life. She's a real hero."
Mary-Lou arrived home with bandages on her hands and a shy smile on her face.
"I didn't think," she explained, gazing up at them. "I just had to help Darrell. She helped me. And I - I couldn't have done it if I hadn't got my powers."
"I'm glad to hear it," Alicia said. "From now on, you're the person in this house who does all the heavy lifting." Irene gleefully sung a victory chant, and even Gwen smiled at Mary-Lou and then patted Darrell on the shoulder, saying, "I'm glad you're all right."
Sally waited until she and Darrell were alone to say, "That was a very fortunate coincidence, finding a perilous situation just when you wanted Mary-Lou to prove herself."
Darrell glanced at the ground; grinned. "I didn't set fire to anything, if that's what you're thinking." [I just thought in a city this size] [bound to be something dangerous] [just had to]
"You could have been killed."
"I probably could have blasted that beam out of the way," Darrell said, wrinkling her forehead. "I think, anyway. But - I wanted to do something right." [wouldn't matter if I] [Mary-Lou's a good person] [so much to make up for]
"Well," Sally said at last, "I'm glad you're all right."
5.
The TV was the only light in the room; Mary-Lou sat on the sofa, knees to chest, watching the reporter. It was the same man who'd been at the scene of the fire, but now he looked much sadder.
"... most terrible loss of life this city has seen in years. The exact details of the tragedy are as yet unclear, but witnesses have described seeing parts of the structure seemingly explode or rip apart of their own accord..."
Mary-Lou felt as if there was a fire in her mind, throwing flickering light onto her thoughts; making them look... different. When the news report finished, she switched off the TV and then sat staring at her hands. The burns were healing over now; smooth, puffy, itching a little. Even with them she knew that if she wanted to, she could pick up the solid oak dining table in the next room and balance it on her hand like it was a tray. She knew it and it felt like she'd always known it, so why, a few days ago, had it seemed so unclear?
She thought she might know the answer.
The house was quiet. Darrell was upstairs in her room, probably, where she'd been ever since the news of the tragedy had broken. She'd sworn she had nothing to do with it and Sally had backed her up, you know I'd be able to tell if she were lying and I promise you, she isn't! But Alicia was still suspicious, they could all tell. Irene might be as well. Those two knew a lot more about powers. Maybe they'd heard of powers where you could lie in your thoughts and trick someone like Sally. But Mary-Lou didn't need to know things like that. She knew that Darrell wouldn't hurt anyone.
All the times she's lost her temper, she's only broken things, she'd said. And - and also, to break a whole building like that you'd need to be really angry, or - or stand there and decide to attack it. She wouldn't do that.
But that hadn't been enough. And now Darrell was miserable no matter how hard she tried to pretend to Mary-Lou that she was all right.
And she was Mary-Lou's friend.
In the end, Mary-Lou scrambled to her feet and walked into the kitchen. Gwendoline was already there, rooting through the cupboards. Mary-Lou realised that she was looking through other people's spaces, eating their foods. She'd never noticed this behaviour before, either.
"The news has finished," she said.
"I don't know why you wanted to bother with that. It's so boring." Gwen set a tin of condensed milk down on the table and started searching for a tin opener.
"I wanted to see what they were saying about the Trinity Street thing."
"Are they saying anything new?" Gwen turned to face her, sounding a little more interested.
"Not really."
"It's so terrible," Gwen said, leaning back on the counter. "Darrell must be feeling awful about it."
Mary-Lou took a deep breath. Her palms were very sweaty suddenly, and her stomach ached a little. "That's why you did it, isn't - isn't it? So that she would be sad."
Silence for a second.
"Mary-Lou!" Gwen laughed, a sharp, awkward sound. "What a thing to say!"
"I'm sorry, Gwen, but I think it must have been you. You see, if there had been another person with powers like Darrell's, there probably would have been reports of odd things happening. If - if you look up the newspapers for places where Darrell's lived, you find stories about - about odd accidents, things breaking, local boys blamed for smashing windows... it isn't much, but... And there doesn't seem to be a similar trail for anyone else."
"Well, that just proves that she actually did it, don't you think? I don't see what it has to do with me."
"Well - you -" Mary-Lou swallowed. It doesn't matter if she laughs or if she's angry, Darrell needs my help - "You can take other people's powers, can't you?"
"I don't know what on earth you're talking about."
"I think that... that if you touch someone, you pick up their powers. And then they have to wait for a bit. They have to regrow them, I suppose - like it's hair. That's why, when you shut me out in the rain, I couldn't open the door. You'd been sitting with me, arm in arm with me. You'd just taken my powers. You - you've been my friend for a long time and you've been taking my powers all this time. That's why I managed to - to make myself think they weren't there. I wanted them not to be, and you took them."
"This is ridiculous," Gwen said, her mouth twisting into a scowl. "You don't have any proof of this."
"You took Darrell's powers, and then you went and destroyed those shops."
"If you're just going to keep saying the same thing over and over again -" Gwen snorted. "I think you need to get some rest, Mary-Lou. Besides, if I do have this clever plan, why hasn't Sally worked it out?"
"I don't know." Mary-Lou was feeling a bit better now. Gwen wasn't shouting and being upset. If she'd been innocent, she would have been horrified that anyone could think she'd do such a thing. But she wasn't. She was just talking like she was trying to win a not-very-important argument. "Perhaps you've been taking her powers - just a little, just enough so that she isn't reading your thoughts. Also, she told us that she's been trying to hold back, do you remember? She hasn't been digging as deep. Maybe that's when you got the idea."
"It still doesn't prove anything."
"Yes, but when I tell Alicia, she'll be able to study it scientifically." Mary-Lou tried to look calm and strong like Alicia would. "If you have a power, she'll be able to see it in your DNA. So - so if you haven't done anything wrong, then it won't be a problem her doing that, will it?"
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Then she smiled.
"So you haven't told Alicia yet?" she said.
"I wanted to - to ask you first."
"Why?"
"People have - people have been killed, Gwen." Mary-Lou swallowed. "They dug out some more bodies today, they said. I don't - you - you were my friend. I wanted to ask you why you'd done that, just to get back at Darrell. I wanted..." I wanted to ask why you hurt me. Did you ever care about me? Even a little bit? But she didn't say that bit. She probably wasn't quite brave enough to.
Gwen shrugged. "Why not?" she said.
"I - what?"
"Why not? Oh, for goodness sake, Mary-Lou. We're special, aren't we?" Gwen flicked her hair back, irritatedly. "If we've been given special powers, then we have a right to use them. And Alicia and Darrell were so arrogant. Thinking I didn't know anything, I was just some idiot? None of you worked it out."
"I have."
"Of course you have, now." Gwen laughed - started walking towards Mary-Lou. "You little idiot! Of course I needed a friend with useful powers so I had an excuse to get close to her. You weren't quite right about Sally, by the way. I think that I don't even have to touch someone to affect them, but only a little bit. Someone like you wouldn't notice it - you'd just be a little weaker - but with Sally, I think my thoughts are murky to her. I think she can't quite make them out." She was still walking closer. Mary-Lou took a step backwards before she could think. "You know how that idiot Irene carries a wave of disorganisation with her? I think I'm like that. Anyway, I knew that you wouldn't work it out."
"But why do it?" Mary-Lou wished there was a piece of furniture between them. She could lift Gwen off her feet, but as soon as she did, Gwen would be able to touch her, suck out her powers, and then she'd just be silly little Mary-Lou again, unable to do anything, useless -
"How dare Darrell treat me like that?" Gwen said, and she didn't even look ashamed, or like anyone might disagree with her. "People like that just need a lesson taught to them."
Mary-Lou turned to run just as Gwen dived forward, grabbed at her. Her fingers scraped down Mary-Lou's arm and even just with that contact Mary-Lou felt it, power seeping away from her, and she fell forward, stumbling, hands scrabbling on the floor as she tried to keep her balance. She had to run - she had to find one of the others and tell them -
Just as she reached the door, something hard slammed into her back and sent her flying. She lay still, gasping, trying to catch her breath. Looked round to see the kitchen chair Gwen had flicked at her lying on its side, and Gwen walking towards her, mouth twisted into a pout.
"You're so stupid," she said. "I can't believe you didn't tell anyone else." She'd grabbed Mary-Lou's hair, clutched at the back of her neck. Her fingers were cold. "Oh well, I suppose it won't matter now."
Mary-Lou could feel the rest of her power being torn out of her. It hurt. It hadn't hurt like this before. She'd just always been tired, and yet - and yet she was, her head was heavy, her arms and legs aching as if they were being buried in golden syrup. She was too tired to talk, but she thought, one word in front of the next, had to... talk to you first... wanted to know...
and... if I didn't do it now then... too scared...
"See, we've been thinking," Gwen said, from far away, "we've been thinking that if I try hard enough, I could take everything - not just powers, everything -"
It hurt but the hurt was just on the surface of a black pit of nothing opening up inside her and
and
no
NO, I WANT TO BE STRONG
She had almost collapsed and so she didn't hear the running footsteps, didn't see Darrell and Sally burst into the kitchen, didn't see Darrell lift Gwen off her feet with a rush of force that shattered the kitchen window and broke every plate in the room. She vaguely registered that someone was putting a coat round her, helping her sit up, but she wasn't awake enough to see Gwen scramble over the kitchen sink and out through the smashed window, or to register that Darrell was crying.
She stayed in bed for four days, sleeping a lot, eating when she woke. When she was finally able to sit up without feeling exhausted, she saw that Alicia was sitting in the room with her, reading a book.
"You look better now," she commented, glancing up from it. "That's good."
"Is... what happened to..."
"Gwendoline got away," Alicia said. "Unfortunately. I knew I never liked that girl. But Sally skimmed your memories of what happened, saw Gwen admitting what she'd done. So your crazy plan worked." She smiled wryly. "I've apologised to Darrell. I suppose my disdain was why you did something so reckless."
"Not... not exactly."
"Don't you watch any films, Mary-Lou? Never confront the baddie without proof or witnesses! You can't always rely on having a telepath in the house to pick up your distress calls."
"I'm sorry."
Alicia shrugged. "Apology accepted. I'm glad you seem all right, though. I would hate to lose one of the North Tower Girls. I've got rather used to having you all around."
five superheroes
Or rather, one story featuring five superheroes split into five parts.
[Title] The North Tower Girls
[Fandom] Malory Towers
[Rating] PG for some violence
[Notes/Summary] AU; five girls, each with a very different talent, team up to protect each other. But what if their most dangerous enemies come from inside?
"So... what is your power, then?" Darrell asked at last.
"Oh." Irene looked round at her, grinned wickedly. "Alicia didn't tell you?"
"Have a heart, Irene," Alicia said from where she was leaning on the back of the sofa. "I may not suffer fools gladly, but I don't reveal other people's secrets without their consent."
Irene laughed. "She'll find out sooner or later - it's hardly a secret, is it? Can I show her?"
"Go ahead."
Irene scrambled off the sofa and hurried out of the room. When she came back, she was clutching a canvas bag which, when she set it down, Darrell could see was lined with neatly folded skeins of wool, each one carefully sealed with a strip of black paper.
"Right," Irene said. "You agree with me that these are all neatly organised? Go on, pick them up if you want. Check for invisible wires -"
"Roll up, roll up, for the greatest show on earth," Alicia put in, laughing.
"Now -" Irene pulled off the gloves she was wearing with a flourish. All the people here wore gloves, Darrell noticed. She thought she could guess why. But even so, Irene's hands were speckled with ink and soot, although they looked very pale against the surface of the bag. She rested her palms on it for a few seconds, then let go and handed the bag to Darrell.
"Go on, look," she said.
Darrell did so, and gasped. All the skeins of wool had come unbound, and were trailing around each other, knotted together, different colours run together like spilt ink.
"How did you..."
"Our dear Irene's power," Alicia said, "is to cause chaos. She's incapable of wearing shoes that lace because they constantly become untied. She can cause any piece of machinery simply to short-circuit by touching it. And while we haven't investigated this, we suspect that she could cause confusion and disorganisation in people simply by laying a gentle hand on their forehead -"
"But there are some problems in testing that," Irene said, "so we can't prove it."
"It certainly seems to hold true for her, however," Alicia said. "Irene takes simple disorganisation to an art form. She's famous at university for - what was it, Irene? Managing to answer a paper on group theory while everyone else was studying metric spaces?"
"I felt like answering a group theory paper," Irene said. "I thought I must have mixed up my timetable."
"Doesn't it..." Darrell swallowed. "Doesn't it make things difficult for you, though? I mean... obviously you can't actually hurt people, but -"
"I wouldn't go that far," Alicia said. "Travelling in vehicles with her, for instance, is always a bit of a risky undertaking." She glanced at Irene. "Not to mention, it's put a damper on her skills as a pianist. When something goes out of tune every time you touch it -"
"Oh, stop it." Irene scowled suddenly. "Don't talk about that, Alicia."
"Whatever you say," Alicia said, lazily. "But you see, Darrell, Irene was my... protege, I suppose you'd call it."
"I wouldn't," Irene said, grinning again as if nothing had happened. "Lab rat, perhaps."
"She was the first person with an unusual attribute I met," Alicia said. "Up until then, I'd been ignoring the signs in myself. Pretending it was just part of my personality. I'm sure you know that way of thinking."
Darrell bit her lip. In some ways, it was worse that Alicia was saying this, rather than asking why didn't you notice that things broke or exploded around you every time you got angry? Because you didn't, that was the thing, you just assumed this was how things were until something so awful happened that you couldn't pretend any more.
"But when I met Irene, I realised what was really going on," Alicia said. "And then I thought, well, why not keep an eye out for others? Plus, it probably helped that her unique skills accidentally caused me to break my leg during a game of lacrosse and my skills meant it had healed after half an hour. It's a bit difficult to pretend when that happens."
Darrell tried not to look too shocked. "You really - you really broke your leg and it - it fixed itself? How do you know it was broken?"
"Because it was like this," Alicia said, making a right-angle shape with the tips of her fingers. "Irene and I watched as it straightened itself out again. It was a very interesting experience, when all's said and done. It certainly cured me of pretending."
"And - and the other two, they don't pretend either?"
"I wouldn't say that," Irene said.
"Mary-Lou's being ridiculous about the whole thing," Alicia said. "She swears blind she doesn't know what I'm talking about, when the main reason she's living here is that her family are too frightened to be near her. She's such a little mouse."
"She's the sort of person who just is mouselike, though, I think," Irene said. "Which makes it ironic, considering what she can do."
"And as for Sally, I have no idea what she thinks she's playing at," Alicia said. "To be quite honest, I think she's one of the most unpleasant people I've ever met."
"She's not that bad," Irene said. "She just doesn't seem to... like people very much. If you want unpleasant, think of Gwendoline Mary." To Darrell, she said, "She's Mary-Lou's best friend. Doesn't have any powers, she just hangs around here because she keeps saying how worried she is about Mary-Lou."
"I think she hangs around here because she wants to know everything about all of us," Alicia said. "She's the sort of person who can't bear anyone except her to have any secrets. Anyway, Darrell - that's us. The North Tower girls, I suppose we would be, although I'm not sure how well we'd do at fighting crime. If you can control that temper of yours, you're welcome to stay."
2.
The sun was still out, but it was an odd, sour colour, and afterwards Darrell realised she should have spotted the clouds rolling up on the horizon.
They were all in the garden - Alicia lying with her face to the sun; Sally hunched over and silent, picking at the grass; Mary-Lou and Gwen chatting on a rug together; Irene lying on her stomach doing homework. Darrell was sitting with her, watching her chew the end of her pencil - every time she did that, the point snapped, and she had to sharpen it, leaving twists of wood in the grass - and every so often, sketch out a flurry of meaningless symbols.
"I don't understand how you can do nothing but maths," she said. "I think I'd go mad!"
"You only think that because it doesn't make sense to you," Irene said. "If you knew what these all meant, it would be fine."
"Well, don't tell me," Darrell said, laughing. "Life is confusing enough at the moment."
Silence for a second except for Alicia's voice in the distance, "Gwen, I don't actually remember asking you over. Not that I don't love your company, but you could treat Mary-Lou in return once in a while, couldn't you?" Gwen mumbling something Darrell couldn't hear.
Then: "Maths isn't confusing," Irene said. "It's the only thing that isn't." She smiled, ruefully. "It just stays as it is. Alicia always said she thought if my powers managed to ruin that, then I could probably unknit the world, so it's jolly good that - oh, bother!" A raindrop had splashed down onto the page, blurring the Greek letters. "This was actually looking neat, too -"
Darrell helped her collect up the papers. Sally was already slouching towards the patio door; she grudgingly held it open until Alicia reached it, then stalked away into the house. Darrell dashed inside and was busy enough helping Irene to put her work back in order that she didn't notice at first what Gwen was doing. When she looked up, she couldn't work it out at first. Gwen was inside, with the rest of them, holding the patio door closed, but Mary-Lou, clutching the blanket, was still outside, struggling with it, the rain spotting her clothes.
"Help her, idiot," Alicia was saying to Gwen. "Don't just stand there -"
There was a sudden boom of thunder and at the same time, the sky flared dull white with lightning. Mary-Lou screamed, and, dropping the rug, wrenched at the door, shaking at the handle. But Gwen was smiling and - and she was holding it shut.
They'd all looked round when Mary-Lou screamed, and Alicia, rolling her eyes, was saying, "Look, you know she's scared of everything, don't you think -" and Sally and Irene weren't saying anything and Mary-Lou was pounding on the glass now, eyes wide and terrified.
"Let her in, why don't you?" Darrell heard herself yell. "She's really scared!"
"I'm just joking," Gwen said, snorting. "Don't be so serious all the time, Darrell."
She was still smiling.
That was what did it.
"Stop it!" she yelled, and she knew the power was about to burst out but that was all right, that was good, she was helping like someone in a comic, and Gwen just rolled her eyes and Darrell felt the power wrench itself free and hurl itself forward, slamming Gwen off her feet. The door flew open, and Mary-Lou dashed inside, sobbing. Rain spattered after her. Irene was already hurrying over, putting an arm round her, but Alicia had marched over to Darrell, grabbed her by the shoulder.
"You stop it," she said.
"I... but she..."
"Look. Go on."
Darrell stared and stared at the dining table, half-slumped where the legs had been wrenched off; the dent in the wall like a two-foot spider's web; the shattered table lamp sent flying to the floor. Gwen was curled up, trembling.
"I... I didn't..."
"Yes, you did," Alicia said. "If you ask me, it's a jolly sight lucky you didn't do worse. You can't just destroy chunks of the house when you don't get your way, you know."
Darrell nearly carried on shouting, lashing out, breaking things down. Once she was pretty sure that she would have done. But now she was going to be better, wasn't she? Hadn't she always said? Just because she could hurt someone badly didn't mean that anyone had to be scared...
She swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. "I... you're right, Alicia. I'm sorry, it... it was stupid of me. I'll tidy it up - pay for repairs... Gwen, are you all right?"
Gwen got to her feet, shaking flecks of broken china out of her hair. She looked over at Darrell, and she looked furious.
"I'm fine," she said. "No thanks to you."
"Well, perhaps if you hadn't tried to scare Mary-Lou silly, the whole thing wouldn't have happened," Alicia said, sounding a little calmer. "Honestly, Gwen, what were you thinking?"
Gwen sniffed, rubbed at her arm. "It was only a joke. She could have killed me."
Alicia was saying something sharp back, but Darrell suddenly didn't want to listen any more. She had nearly killed someone, and suddenly she couldn't bear to look any of these people in the eye. Shaking, she hurried towards the door, when she felt a damp hand clutch at her arm.
"Thank you," Mary-Lou whispered, under cover of the argument brewing behind them. "It... I was so scared."
3.
Sally knew Darrell was outside the door -
[stupid to stand here being such a coward] [she's so cold I don't] [Mary-Lou needs help and I]
- and so she called out, "Come in," because she was too tired and cold to start off with go away. Sometimes she still remembered what it was like being polite to people.
An unnerved pause - [how did she] [oh, of course] [just get on with it!] - and then the door opened and Darrell peered nervously round it. "Sally? I wanted to talk to you... are you busy?" [so dark in here] [does she ever do anything?]
"I don't do much," she said, and Darrell's eyes widened. Sally could remember feeling triumphant about that sort of thing, once (when they called her plain and boring in their heads and she was able to say maybe, but at least I'm not worried about being left back a year and they'd yell at her, how did you know -)
But now she didn't feel triumphant, she just felt tired.
"What do you want?" she said. The window was slightly open and the white curtain was billowing.
Darrell swallowed, and as she spoke her thoughts echoed the words so Sally knew that she wasn't lying. "I'm worried about Mary-Lou. What - what Gwendoline did to her was really horrible, and she was really scared, but she didn't use her powers at all. I heard Alicia talking to Irene, saying that maybe she's suppressed them somehow, but I don't - I can't believe that would happen. I mean - Alicia said that she thought it was unusual - she wanted to study it further. I just... I don't understand why, if someone's really scared, they wouldn't be able to break through any kind of block. She could have ripped the patio door off if she'd tried."
Sally realised she was becoming interested in the question. She didn't want to be, being interested in things just meant they laughed at you when it went wrong and - and -
She swept her powers into Darrell's mind, looking, looking for the scorn she knew would be there -
[why isn't she answering? She's so strange, I can't work out] [what's wrong with her?]
There.
"I don't know why you'd come to ask me for help," she said.
"Alicia and Irene don't believe there's anything odd going on," Darrell said. "And they both find Mary-Lou a little irritating, don't they? And - and -" [you must know] [you can look in people's heads] [just hiding it from me?]
"And I can help you solve the problem by telling you the answer," Sally said, "and then you can take all the credit and make yourself feel better about nearly killing Gwen."
Darrell went pale. Her eyes were like pools of shadow. [I didn't] [not like] [her too?] [I want to help]
"You want to make yourself feel better," Sally repeated.
"No, I don't!" Darrell took a couple of steps forward; the curtain billowed out again. "Mary-Lou's been following me around like a puppy ever since and" [stupid kid] "she needs to learn to stand on her own two feet." [like everyone has to] [I don't deserve] [I don't know what to do!]
This was why Sally didn't let people talk to her, this was why she liked being on her own - how dare Darrell come in here to taunt her that she had no friends, rub it in that she could never be involved in a plan, never form a team? She felt sick and shaky and her own thoughts almost drowned out the hum of Darrell's. "Go away," she stammered out, "go away, do you hear? How dare you come in here and make fun of me?"
"I didn't - this is ridiculous." Darrell's fists were clenched at her sides. "I came here because I wanted your help. You looked angry with Gwen too. I thought you'd understand."
"Get out!"
"Listen to me!" Darrell shouted. "Or are you so busy reading thoughts you don't take in what people say?"
(Afterwards, Sally wondered if she'd wanted to trigger something awful, to make the constant noise stop at last, or just to make Darrell miserable. But at the time, she completely forgot that her opponent was dangerous.) She dived forwards, shoved Darrell back towards the door, and then she heard/felt it -
[Don't you dare!]
The window flew open with a crash and the curtain poured into the room like a ghost and Sally felt the power slam into her, send her flying as if she were in the sea and had been hit by a big wave.
[sorry] [sorry] [is she] [how could I] "Sally, are you all right?"
Sally looked up at her. Darrell's eyes were wide and her hands were shaking a little. She could forgive her.
They could talk.
For goodness sake, hadn't she learnt yet? Furiously, she gritted her teeth, focused on the bruises swelling on her hip and her elbow.
"Go away," she said. "Go away, or I shall tell Alicia you nearly killed me."
[how dare] [no, I] [so sorry!] [wanted to] [wanted to help]
Darrell didn't say anything. At last, she turned and walked away, her thoughts following her like sobbing all down the corridor. Sally stayed sitting on the floor, drew her knees up to her chest. If she could listen to her own thoughts, she knew they would be I don't care. I don't care like sharp regular stitches in a piece of cloth. She didn't care what Darrell Rivers thought of her, and she didn't care about Mary-Lou either. When it came down to it, you couldn't afford to.
4.
In the end, it was the sadness that did it. She could feel Darrell's thoughts hanging in the air, cold and scared and lonely, every time the two of them were both in the house, never mind in the same room. Normally, she didn't care about other people being miserable. Often they deserved it. But Darrell kept thinking about her powers, about how she'd hurt everyone, about how she couldn't control them and how wicked she was. Sometimes Sally caught flickers of what had happened with her and her family, and then caught herself saying, I understand, it was bad for me too as if Darrell had the same power as her and could listen.
Sally had always clung to the knowledge that she wasn't a coward, whatever else she was, and so at last she sought Darrell out in her turn, told her that things were all right, that she herself was no better. Darrell stared at her, and the relief washed over Sally like hot water.
And sometimes Darrell would come and sit by Sally in the garden, offer food or volunteer to get a rug. Sally tried not to think too hard about this, tried not to notice how warm Darrell's thoughts were. If she thought about it, it might all go wrong. So she thought about Mary-Lou instead; Mary-Lou, and Darrell's questions about her.
"She definitely has powers," she said. "Alicia was positive about it. She's just frightened of them."
"But you can't get rid of them just by being scared." Darrell was sitting on the grass munching an apple, frowning as she ate. "And even if you had, surely being scared about something else would - cancel that out. Wouldn't it? Alicia said she saw Mary-Lou lift up a car with one hand once. She should have been able to open that door."
"Maybe it was panic," Sally said. "Maybe she forgot. Like when you're scared and trying to open the front door and can't get your key in the lock. Something like that." Darrell didn't answer - her thoughts were still puzzling over the same questions - and so Sally carried on: "Either she's scared, or something is actually stopping her powers from working. And before you ask, I can't work it out any more than you can. She's just... always nervous. That's all that's in her head." The problem was intriguing her, and so she carried on, half to herself, "If I were a scientist, I'd put her in a situation where she'd really want to use her powers. That would probably explain it."
Darrell wasn't at the house much for a while after that; she took to going out for walks, sometimes with Mary-Lou, sometimes without. Her thoughts seemed purposeful, expectant, but without digging deeper Sally couldn't work out whether she actually had a plan. And she didn't really want to dig deeper. This - this friendship might get crushed if she did.
Both Darrell and Mary-Lou were out when Irene came crashing into Sally's room, tripping over a sudden fold in the carpet as she did: "Come downstairs - on the television - you have to see this!"
On the little black-and-white screen was a reporter, standing in front of a black, smoking ruin of a building. "... no one has been seriously injured in the blaze, thanks to the actions of plucky local girl Mary-Lou Ireson! Miss Ireson and her friend Darrell Rivers were out walking when they spotted the blaze -" The screen cut to Darrell, smeared with soot and with a blanket wrapped round her shoulders.
"I was very foolish," she was saying, but her eyes were glinting and a smile was doing its best to dance across her face. "I saw the flames and I just ran forward to see if anyone was trapped... I didn't think. Mary-Lou ran after me and got me out just in time."
"Onlookers report seeing your friend lift a burning beam blocking her path and throw it out of the way, despite it being twice as tall as she was. Is there any truth in that amazing story?"
"I didn't really see," Darrell said. "All I know is that Mary-Lou saved my life. She's a real hero."
Mary-Lou arrived home with bandages on her hands and a shy smile on her face.
"I didn't think," she explained, gazing up at them. "I just had to help Darrell. She helped me. And I - I couldn't have done it if I hadn't got my powers."
"I'm glad to hear it," Alicia said. "From now on, you're the person in this house who does all the heavy lifting." Irene gleefully sung a victory chant, and even Gwen smiled at Mary-Lou and then patted Darrell on the shoulder, saying, "I'm glad you're all right."
Sally waited until she and Darrell were alone to say, "That was a very fortunate coincidence, finding a perilous situation just when you wanted Mary-Lou to prove herself."
Darrell glanced at the ground; grinned. "I didn't set fire to anything, if that's what you're thinking." [I just thought in a city this size] [bound to be something dangerous] [just had to]
"You could have been killed."
"I probably could have blasted that beam out of the way," Darrell said, wrinkling her forehead. "I think, anyway. But - I wanted to do something right." [wouldn't matter if I] [Mary-Lou's a good person] [so much to make up for]
"Well," Sally said at last, "I'm glad you're all right."
5.
The TV was the only light in the room; Mary-Lou sat on the sofa, knees to chest, watching the reporter. It was the same man who'd been at the scene of the fire, but now he looked much sadder.
"... most terrible loss of life this city has seen in years. The exact details of the tragedy are as yet unclear, but witnesses have described seeing parts of the structure seemingly explode or rip apart of their own accord..."
Mary-Lou felt as if there was a fire in her mind, throwing flickering light onto her thoughts; making them look... different. When the news report finished, she switched off the TV and then sat staring at her hands. The burns were healing over now; smooth, puffy, itching a little. Even with them she knew that if she wanted to, she could pick up the solid oak dining table in the next room and balance it on her hand like it was a tray. She knew it and it felt like she'd always known it, so why, a few days ago, had it seemed so unclear?
She thought she might know the answer.
The house was quiet. Darrell was upstairs in her room, probably, where she'd been ever since the news of the tragedy had broken. She'd sworn she had nothing to do with it and Sally had backed her up, you know I'd be able to tell if she were lying and I promise you, she isn't! But Alicia was still suspicious, they could all tell. Irene might be as well. Those two knew a lot more about powers. Maybe they'd heard of powers where you could lie in your thoughts and trick someone like Sally. But Mary-Lou didn't need to know things like that. She knew that Darrell wouldn't hurt anyone.
All the times she's lost her temper, she's only broken things, she'd said. And - and also, to break a whole building like that you'd need to be really angry, or - or stand there and decide to attack it. She wouldn't do that.
But that hadn't been enough. And now Darrell was miserable no matter how hard she tried to pretend to Mary-Lou that she was all right.
And she was Mary-Lou's friend.
In the end, Mary-Lou scrambled to her feet and walked into the kitchen. Gwendoline was already there, rooting through the cupboards. Mary-Lou realised that she was looking through other people's spaces, eating their foods. She'd never noticed this behaviour before, either.
"The news has finished," she said.
"I don't know why you wanted to bother with that. It's so boring." Gwen set a tin of condensed milk down on the table and started searching for a tin opener.
"I wanted to see what they were saying about the Trinity Street thing."
"Are they saying anything new?" Gwen turned to face her, sounding a little more interested.
"Not really."
"It's so terrible," Gwen said, leaning back on the counter. "Darrell must be feeling awful about it."
Mary-Lou took a deep breath. Her palms were very sweaty suddenly, and her stomach ached a little. "That's why you did it, isn't - isn't it? So that she would be sad."
Silence for a second.
"Mary-Lou!" Gwen laughed, a sharp, awkward sound. "What a thing to say!"
"I'm sorry, Gwen, but I think it must have been you. You see, if there had been another person with powers like Darrell's, there probably would have been reports of odd things happening. If - if you look up the newspapers for places where Darrell's lived, you find stories about - about odd accidents, things breaking, local boys blamed for smashing windows... it isn't much, but... And there doesn't seem to be a similar trail for anyone else."
"Well, that just proves that she actually did it, don't you think? I don't see what it has to do with me."
"Well - you -" Mary-Lou swallowed. It doesn't matter if she laughs or if she's angry, Darrell needs my help - "You can take other people's powers, can't you?"
"I don't know what on earth you're talking about."
"I think that... that if you touch someone, you pick up their powers. And then they have to wait for a bit. They have to regrow them, I suppose - like it's hair. That's why, when you shut me out in the rain, I couldn't open the door. You'd been sitting with me, arm in arm with me. You'd just taken my powers. You - you've been my friend for a long time and you've been taking my powers all this time. That's why I managed to - to make myself think they weren't there. I wanted them not to be, and you took them."
"This is ridiculous," Gwen said, her mouth twisting into a scowl. "You don't have any proof of this."
"You took Darrell's powers, and then you went and destroyed those shops."
"If you're just going to keep saying the same thing over and over again -" Gwen snorted. "I think you need to get some rest, Mary-Lou. Besides, if I do have this clever plan, why hasn't Sally worked it out?"
"I don't know." Mary-Lou was feeling a bit better now. Gwen wasn't shouting and being upset. If she'd been innocent, she would have been horrified that anyone could think she'd do such a thing. But she wasn't. She was just talking like she was trying to win a not-very-important argument. "Perhaps you've been taking her powers - just a little, just enough so that she isn't reading your thoughts. Also, she told us that she's been trying to hold back, do you remember? She hasn't been digging as deep. Maybe that's when you got the idea."
"It still doesn't prove anything."
"Yes, but when I tell Alicia, she'll be able to study it scientifically." Mary-Lou tried to look calm and strong like Alicia would. "If you have a power, she'll be able to see it in your DNA. So - so if you haven't done anything wrong, then it won't be a problem her doing that, will it?"
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Then she smiled.
"So you haven't told Alicia yet?" she said.
"I wanted to - to ask you first."
"Why?"
"People have - people have been killed, Gwen." Mary-Lou swallowed. "They dug out some more bodies today, they said. I don't - you - you were my friend. I wanted to ask you why you'd done that, just to get back at Darrell. I wanted..." I wanted to ask why you hurt me. Did you ever care about me? Even a little bit? But she didn't say that bit. She probably wasn't quite brave enough to.
Gwen shrugged. "Why not?" she said.
"I - what?"
"Why not? Oh, for goodness sake, Mary-Lou. We're special, aren't we?" Gwen flicked her hair back, irritatedly. "If we've been given special powers, then we have a right to use them. And Alicia and Darrell were so arrogant. Thinking I didn't know anything, I was just some idiot? None of you worked it out."
"I have."
"Of course you have, now." Gwen laughed - started walking towards Mary-Lou. "You little idiot! Of course I needed a friend with useful powers so I had an excuse to get close to her. You weren't quite right about Sally, by the way. I think that I don't even have to touch someone to affect them, but only a little bit. Someone like you wouldn't notice it - you'd just be a little weaker - but with Sally, I think my thoughts are murky to her. I think she can't quite make them out." She was still walking closer. Mary-Lou took a step backwards before she could think. "You know how that idiot Irene carries a wave of disorganisation with her? I think I'm like that. Anyway, I knew that you wouldn't work it out."
"But why do it?" Mary-Lou wished there was a piece of furniture between them. She could lift Gwen off her feet, but as soon as she did, Gwen would be able to touch her, suck out her powers, and then she'd just be silly little Mary-Lou again, unable to do anything, useless -
"How dare Darrell treat me like that?" Gwen said, and she didn't even look ashamed, or like anyone might disagree with her. "People like that just need a lesson taught to them."
Mary-Lou turned to run just as Gwen dived forward, grabbed at her. Her fingers scraped down Mary-Lou's arm and even just with that contact Mary-Lou felt it, power seeping away from her, and she fell forward, stumbling, hands scrabbling on the floor as she tried to keep her balance. She had to run - she had to find one of the others and tell them -
Just as she reached the door, something hard slammed into her back and sent her flying. She lay still, gasping, trying to catch her breath. Looked round to see the kitchen chair Gwen had flicked at her lying on its side, and Gwen walking towards her, mouth twisted into a pout.
"You're so stupid," she said. "I can't believe you didn't tell anyone else." She'd grabbed Mary-Lou's hair, clutched at the back of her neck. Her fingers were cold. "Oh well, I suppose it won't matter now."
Mary-Lou could feel the rest of her power being torn out of her. It hurt. It hadn't hurt like this before. She'd just always been tired, and yet - and yet she was, her head was heavy, her arms and legs aching as if they were being buried in golden syrup. She was too tired to talk, but she thought, one word in front of the next, had to... talk to you first... wanted to know...
and... if I didn't do it now then... too scared...
"See, we've been thinking," Gwen said, from far away, "we've been thinking that if I try hard enough, I could take everything - not just powers, everything -"
It hurt but the hurt was just on the surface of a black pit of nothing opening up inside her and
and
no
NO, I WANT TO BE STRONG
She had almost collapsed and so she didn't hear the running footsteps, didn't see Darrell and Sally burst into the kitchen, didn't see Darrell lift Gwen off her feet with a rush of force that shattered the kitchen window and broke every plate in the room. She vaguely registered that someone was putting a coat round her, helping her sit up, but she wasn't awake enough to see Gwen scramble over the kitchen sink and out through the smashed window, or to register that Darrell was crying.
She stayed in bed for four days, sleeping a lot, eating when she woke. When she was finally able to sit up without feeling exhausted, she saw that Alicia was sitting in the room with her, reading a book.
"You look better now," she commented, glancing up from it. "That's good."
"Is... what happened to..."
"Gwendoline got away," Alicia said. "Unfortunately. I knew I never liked that girl. But Sally skimmed your memories of what happened, saw Gwen admitting what she'd done. So your crazy plan worked." She smiled wryly. "I've apologised to Darrell. I suppose my disdain was why you did something so reckless."
"Not... not exactly."
"Don't you watch any films, Mary-Lou? Never confront the baddie without proof or witnesses! You can't always rely on having a telepath in the house to pick up your distress calls."
"I'm sorry."
Alicia shrugged. "Apology accepted. I'm glad you seem all right, though. I would hate to lose one of the North Tower Girls. I've got rather used to having you all around."