Chapter 3
The further away from the Harrison’s house the darker it became and Maddie felt it was safe to slow down but with no light coming through the trees it was no wonder that she fell down the steep, overgrown path that would lead her to Tumbledown Cottage.
Picking herself up Maddie found herself confronted by a dark, derelict cottage that had seen better days. The long neglected building with part of its roof missing, windows broken and general disrepair did not look very inviting to the soaked young girl.
Although Maddie did not really want to enter the dark cottage she felt that there was no choice, it was spend the night there, catch pneumonia or go back to where she had come from. Maddie screwed up all of her courage, pushed the rotting front door open and entered the old house to find that the inside was almost as bad as the exterior.
Venturing up the stairs Maddie could hear each one creak loudly as she carefully made her way through the cottage, with no light and her eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness it was difficult to see anything at all. The young girl held her hands out before her and slowly felt her way to what she thought was a bedroom. In the pitch dark Maddie could just make out the shape of a bed and not wanting to lie upon a dirty old mattress she slid to the floor and curled up there to face the night alone.
It was not long before an exhausted Maddie fell asleep on the filthy floor of the third guest bedroom in Tumbledown Cottage.
Maddie awoke early the next morning with the sun shining through the huge open window to find her-self in a comfortable bed with fresh warm bedding. Looking around the room she was amazed to see a cosy well-furnished room. It was a little old fashioned for the young girl’s taste but she could not help but feel the room was put together with love and care.
How she had found herself in the bed and the amazing transformation that the room had undergone were questions that Maddie needed answers to and to that end she forced herself to rise and go downstairs.
There were amazing smells coming from the kitchen and Maddie found herself gravitating towards them.
“Ah you are up, that is good. You must be starving my girl.”
Maddie was still trying to process the change in the cottage from the previous night.
“I don’t understand, this place was in a dreadful state last night.”
“Really my girl I do not know what you mean, it was dark and you were tired. By the by it is not very polite to say that someone’s home is in a state .”
Maddie was not convinced by this woman’s glib explanation but thought it best to just play along.
“I am sorry perhaps you are right, thank you for letting me stay the night in your home.”
“Nonsense my girl what else should I do, leave you out in the rain to drown? I am Mrs Didcot and there is fresh bread, eggs, bacon and juice so please do help your-self.”
“Thank you Mrs Didcot, my name is Maddison and I am not very hungry.”
Maddie was not too sure why she had used her preferred name or why she had lied about not being hungry as she was ravenous.
“Now let’s not be foolish my girl, breakfast is the most Important meal of the day and I have gone to all of this trouble to make this good food for you, it would be criminal to waste it now wouldn’t it?”
Maddie said nothing and just tucked into the food put before her and relished every morsel.
“Thank you again Mrs Didcot I am very grateful but I must be leaving after breakfast.”
“As you wish my girl, I have no intention of interfering with your plans.”
There was an open newspaper on the table in front of Maddie and on the left page there was a full paged ad that displayed in bold letters.
TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME
CALL
223344
ASK FOR TUMBLEDOWN
On the opposite page there was an article concerning the exclusion of a ten year old boy from the local school. It seemed that he was considered to be obese although the picture showed a normal, healthy boy smiling away. There was some more about height, weight and BMI which Maddie did not quite understand and the whole story seemed ridiculous to her, why would you take someone out of school for being a little overweight not that he even looked slightly chubby.
“Mr Didcot will be back soon Maddison and I am sure that he would be happy to drive you home.”
Maddie was not expecting this and did not have time to come up with a good reason to say no to the kind offer.
“It is fine Mrs Didcot I can easily walk and I do not want to put anyone out.”
The look on the woman that had cooked her that lovely breakfast was one of indifference as she said.
“As you please my girl, it is your legs after all.”
It was so strange thought Maddie; here she was in a warm, cosy kitchen with a woman that looked as though she just fell out of an old 1950’s American sit-com that her mother used to watch. With her apron pristine, not a hair out of place and the deferential way she referred to her husband Mr Didcot she did not seem to belong in the modern world.
“You should leave through the back garden it is much safer that way.”
Maddie thought it better not to ask what she meant by this as she just wanted to be on her way. It was not that she knew where she was going or what she was going to do, it was just that she wanted to be away from Mrs Didcot and her cottage.
“That is fine I will be happy to leave any way you want me to.”
“I have not indicated that I want you to leave at all my girl, the choice is yours, and it always has to be yours.”
The woman was becoming more cryptic by the minute and it was giving Maddie the creeps.
“Yes Mrs Didcot and I choose to leave now.”
Heading for the back door that lead to the garden Maddie said her goodbyes.
“Remember my girl; you can only come back when you have eased their suffering.”
This was getting silly; the woman was making no sense as Maddie hurried through the back garden in order to get away from Mrs Didcot.
“BE CAREFUL, THEY DON’T LIKE CHILDREN WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND THERE IS NO TOLERANCE FOR WHAT THEY CONSIDER BAD BEHAVIOUR.”
Maddie was through the garden and opening the gate when she heard this latest piece of gibberish and decided to just ignore it and get the hell out of there.
After her calling out to Maddie Mr Didcot joined his wife in the kitchen whereupon she found comfort in his arms.
“Do you think that she will be the one to release us?”
Although doubtful that this was the case, Mr Didcot used his most reassuring voice when he said.
“She showed some spirit and we can only hope, just remember there have been many that have gone through before her.”
It was a fact that Mrs Didcot was not likely to forget.
“I know that Henry and what of the boy, he was not supposed to go through?”
“Don’t worry about the boy; he has no relevance to us. Our only concern is that the girl succeeds and finds her way back.”
It was a very grey sky that greeted Maddie as she left Tumbledown and the country lanes looked decidedly uninviting as she walked briskly away from that strange place that perplexed her even now.
Choosing which direction to go in was not difficult as Maddie had no plan and nowhere to go. If she went back to London to try and see her mother then she would almost certainly end up back at Clarendon and she was not ready to go back there just yet. Maddie knew the inevitability of being caught, she had runaway many times before and the result was always the same but this time she would be smarter and stay away from the places that she knew.
It had been hours and though Maddie had left on a full stomach she was beginning to feel the need for more food. So far she had seen nothing and no-one on the road that she had been travelling and the signs that she could see meant little to her.
At least now she must be getting close to another village she thought as the houses were more frequent and there were people dotted
around. It just felt so unreal as though she were out of time; the houses and streets were so clean. It was the silence that really struck her, after all this was the countryside and the people were friendly but everyone that she passed just averted their eyes and ignored her as though she did not exist.
Maddie just kept on walking with her head held high and her eyes straight, it was how she had survived the harsher streets of London. A few country yokels acting strangely would not intimidate her, in any case what else could she do but keep going, there really was no going back.
At last there was some noise to break the unnatural silence around her, the voice of a girl shouting. As Maddie turned the corner she witnessed a young boy in what looked like a dark bottle green uniform playing tug of war with a smaller girl’s bag. The only problem was that it appeared the young girl was not playing but taking the whole thing much more seriously.
“You, what the hell do you think you are doing?”
Maddie was straight in with her hackles up.
The boy looked down the street in Maddie’s direction and stared blankly at her.
“Yes that is right I am talking to you, give her back the bag or I will make you sorry that you messed with her.”
Maddie saw it as a straightforward case of bullying and would not tolerate it.
The boy was smiling now and shoved the smaller girl hard causing her to fall to the floor.
“You are a snivelling little rat.”
Maddie ran at the boy knocking the wind out of him as she landed on top of him and then quickly rolled off him. As she readied herself for any retaliation from the boy she noticed that the few people around were watching her intently, she even thought she could see some of the curtains twitching as she waited for the boy to react.
“Are you mad, attacking a Cadet in the middle of the street?”
“I see a rat and I just think that it needs to be exterminated, that is what you do with vermin.”
In the skirmish Maddie had taken the bag from the boy and was holding it tightly.
“You have interfered with me when carrying out my duty and for that you will be punished. As for you I will find out where you live, I know it is somewhere in the village.”
The boy turned and marched away after his little speech, empty threats thought Maddie.
“We must go now before he comes back.”
The young girl said this in such an urgent tone that Maddie almost felt that they should be afraid of the silly boy.
“Don’t worry he is gone and if I know bullies he won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
“Are you crazy? You don’t just attack a Cad and stick around now come with me.”
Maddie was beginning to lose patience with the young girl now and just wanted to be on her way.
“Yes you should run along home now and I will be on my way, goodbye.”
“My God you are touched; if you stay on the streets they will catch you for sure. Please come with me.”
Something in the young girl’s voice made Maddie go with her.
“We can hide here until they have gone.”
The girl had taken Maddie to a small back alley where they climbed some iron stairs at the back of a disused distillery to reach the roof.
“Look they are coming.”
Maddie looked on in disbelief as she saw a troop of boys dressed in the same green uniform march down the street.
“They won’t find us up here. I am Lana by the way.”
“Who are they and what do they want with you?”
Lana laughed and said.
“You mean what do they want with us, remember it was you that jumped on the Cad not me.”
This was becoming surreal thought Maddie; here she was hiding on a rooftop from a bunch of boy-scouts on steroids and she could not work out why.
“He is just a boy in a uniform playing at soldiers just like the rest of them.”
“My God you really are touched aren’t you? I mean you act like you don’t know about the Academies and how much serious trouble we are in.”
Maddie thought to inject a little sanity into the proceedings.
“Let us start over my name is Maddie and I really do not have a clue what you are talking about. Look at them Lana they are just boys and nothing to be afraid of.”
Lana looked at Maddie with astonishment.
“No Maddie you look and keep looking.”
Again finding something compelling in Lana’s voice Maddie watched the troop as they continued their slow March. She did not have long to wait before she witnessed what appeared to be the leader stop the troop and question some of the people.
“I am still looking and I can’t see anything that……”
As Maddie said this the troop’s leader took out what looked like a baton and prodded an elderly woman with it. She immediately dropped to the floor and from the distance it looked as though she might not get up again.
“You were lucky that he had not been issued with his lektro yet when you jumped on him or you would have gone down like that to.”
This was crazy what kind of place had she landed herself in thought Maddie.
“What the hell is a lektro?”
“You really don’t know anything do you Maddie?”
“I know that It is time to get out of here and I think you should go home where it is safe.”
“Safe? After what you did there is nowhere safe but we should go back to my house and warn my parents that they will be coming for them.”
Maddie’s patience was already stretched thin when she said.
“Who will be coming for them and why, my god Lana what kind of world are you living in?”
A wide beaming smile came from the young girl and then a simple statement.
“The same one as you Maddie, by the way I love your dress.”
Since she had left the crazy cottage Maddie had felt there was something different about the world, there was something in the air and the grey skies above her only added to the dark feel of her new surroundings.
“Lana where are we?”
The young girl looked puzzled but tried to answer Maddie’s strange question.
”We are on a rooftop just outside the village of Kalen.”
Maddie wanted Lana to be a little less specific.
“I mean are we near London? I know that we are still in England, right!?”
Once again Maddie saw that Lana was puzzled.
“You have heard of London and England!?”
Lana’s short answer was devastating.
“No, what are they?”
Perhaps the girl was right and she had indeed gone insane thought Maddie.
“Then where the hell are we if not in England?”
It was beginning to dawn on Lana that Maddie meant what country she was in.
“We are in Velaria and we need to be on the move now.”
One of them must be mad and Maddie just hoped that it was not her.
“Come on we can’t stay here forever or we might be discovered, the Cads might be stupid but they are thorough.”
Maddie wished that she could wake up from this particular nightmare but there was no time as Lana took her by the hand and led her away from the uniformed boys that were looking for them.
The journey to Lana’s house was short and Maddie was full of questions about what had happened.
“Why are you not a Cad Lana?”
“Same reason as you, I failed to get into an Academy.”
It was said with a wide smile, it seemed that Lana always found a reason to smile and Maddie found it very endearing.
“Why did you not get into your Academy?”
“Oh you know how strict the rules are and I was a couple of inches too short when I was ten. So they rejected me and I became an Imp just like you.”
It seemed that Lana wanted to identify herself with Maddie and she was not sure why.
“So we are Imps are we? What the hell is an Imp when it is at home?”
<
br /> A loud laugh from Lana told Maddie that she thought her question ridiculous.
“Come on Maddie I know you are a little touched but you must know that you are an Imp.”
“Humour me please and explain.”
“Imps are those that have failed to secure a place in the Academy system. If you have not been taken by the time you are ten years old then you become an Imp. We are called Imps because we are Imperfect and not worthy of becoming a Cadet or Cad as we call them.”
“And you think that I am an Imp because as you say I am touched.”
“Yes you would never have passed there psych test.”
It all sounded very logical in a twisted kind of way thought Maddie but this was not her life and so it did not really concern her.
“I am not what you think I am Lana and I am not from here but that does not matter right now. I think we should just concentrate on getting you home safely.”
Lana took Maddie’s arm and smiled openly at her.
“Not long now Maddie and then I can warn my parents of what is to come.”
Maddie did not really understand what Lana meant by this but let the younger girl direct her anyway.
Lana’s parents were surprised to see their daughter arrive home with an older girl that dressed and acted so differently than anyone else they had known.
“Father something terrible has happened we have offended the Cads and they are coming for us.”
“Oh my God, what have you done girl?”
The hysterical cry came from Lana’s mother who was listening intently to what her daughter was saying.
“I am sorry mamma it just happened.”
Maddie felt that she had to pitch in even though she found the whole scene over-dramatic.
“It was my fault; I interfered without knowing the consequences so if you are going to blame anyone then blame me.”
For some reason Lana brought out a protective streak in Maddie and she did not want to see her hurt.
“Yes I am sure that it was not Lana’s fault, Robert call Justice immediately and explain that it was this girl’s actions and not our daughters.”
Lana’s father looked pityingly at his wife and replied.
“You know it does not really matter whose fault it is, they will not distinguish between the two of them. You have to leave now Lana and we will try to distract them from coming after you as long as we can.”
“No Robert we must call Justice now or they will disappear us just like they have so many others.” Lana’s mother was exhibiting full blown hysterics now and her husband tried to calm her down.
“It will be fine my love we have done nothing wrong and they will see that we have been good citizens all of our lives.”
Robert Farringdon knew that he was lying to his wife but could see no other way to keep her from going completely off the deep end.
“Are you sure Rob, I mean they are not known for their leniency?”
“I know but we have value in society and they will not want to lose two as loyal as we.”
Maddie could see that the man was not being truthful and that Lana’s parents were in great danger.
“If I leave you can tell them that I caused this and that Lana had nothing to do with it.” Catherine Farringdon seized upon this immediately.
“Yes Rob that is right we should put it all on the strange girl after all it is what she wants.” Before her father could reply Lana interrupted the conversation.
“No Daddy that is not right and you know that they would punish me anyway. We will leave now but before we go Please call Justice and report me so that they do not hurt you.” To Maddie’s disbelief Robert Farringdon picked up the phone and asked for the Justice Department.
“Come on we need to be out of here now.” Lana grabbed Maddie’s arm and yanked her away as they heard her father say.
“I would like to report an infraction against an Academy Cadet….”
Before Maddie knew it they were outside Lana’s house and running for all they were worth. Lana was the first to stop to catch her breath.
“We should be far enough away now to walk.”
“Walk where Lana, where are we going?
“Sanctorea, we are going to Sanctorea.” It seemed that Lana felt there was no need to explain further and that Maddie should have heard of Sanctorea.
Maddie spotted a large tree stump and sat down while Lana carried on walking in front of her until she turned and saw her new companion was no longer by her side.
“What are you doing? We do not have time to sit around it will be dark soon.” Maddie just looked back at the girl and said.
“I do not belong here Lana and I have already caused you enough trouble so just go on to this Sanctorea of yours alone.”
A smiling Lana walked back towards Maddie.
“You are being silly if you stay here then they will find you and I was in trouble before you helped me. You know we all end up at Sanctorea eventually anyway, it is either there or Juvi and I never wanted to end up there.” Maddie was tired and confused, there was just too much information coming at once and she just wanted to lie down to sleep, maybe then she could wake from this nightmare.
“I don’t know what you are talking about Lana, I have never heard of Sanctorea or Juvi and this world is very strange to me.” Lana could see how muddled her new friend was and put her arm around her shoulder to comfort her.
“It is OK Maddie once we get to Sanctorea there will be more Imps like us and we will be safe from the Cads. You just have to trust me and I will make sure that we do not get caught.”
Maddie appreciated the younger girl’s concern and felt a little ashamed at showing such weakness.
“OK Lana, I will go with you but I do need to know what is going on so if you could tell me as much as you can about this place that would be great.”
Lana was a mine of information and answered all of Maddie’s questions patiently but could not help but show her amusement at times when she thought that Maddie was asking something silly.
She told Maddie all about the Academy system and how their society favoured Cads over all other children. Lana explained how the Imps all knew of Sanctorea because they all knew that one day they would have to find it or be sent to Juvinescence on their eighteenth birthday.
“And this Juvinescence is really that bad that you all run from it?”
“Oh yes, it is said that once you enter Juvi you never come out.”
The more Maddie learned the more bizarre this place seemed but she was fascinated to know even more.
“A while back you mentioned the word Lektro what exactly is that?”
“My you really don’t know anything do you? It is an electro-shock baton; you saw what it did to the old woman when the troop leader poked her with his. If it had been one of the top ten Academies we were facing then the Cadet would have had one and used it on you.”
Maddie remembered seeing the number 50 in silver on the boy’s epaulettes.
“Is that what the number means on their shoulders?”
“Yes it is also on their service cap or as some of them call their wedge, if it had been Academy 1 then we would have never made it out of there.”
Maddie was asking lots of questions now; they came thick and fast as darkness approached.
“Academy 1?
“Oh for goodness sake you are ridiculous how have you survived knowing so little? It is the first Academy, the elite, only the very best are sent to Academy 1 and even then most do not get to join them. They get all of the equipment and are always better turned out than the other Academies; you really cannot compare Cad 50 to Cad 1.”
Lana seemed to be getting a little Impatient with all of Maddie’s questions so she gave it a rest for the time being.
“I think we should find somewhere to rest Lana it is dark and we have been walking for hours.”
A tired Lana nodded in agreement.
“I thought they would have found us by now but you
are right we need to rest somewhere.”
Find us thought Maddie, what did she mean?
“Lana you do know where Sanctorea is don’t you?”
“Now you really are being silly of course I don’t know where it is, nobody really knows.”
It was Maddie’s turn to lose patience now.
“Then just what the hell are we doing in the middle of the woods at night searching for some mythical place that could be anywhere.”
“Indeed it could be anywhere and perhaps nowhere and the idea that it is mythical does take my fancy.”
The boy had seemingly come from out of nowhere and yet there he was a tall willowy boy with wild dark hair that was in dire need of a good comb.
Maddie was alert now and ready to fight as more of them came out of the trees to join the boy who was obviously their leader.
“Who are you and what do you want with us?”
Lana jumped in between the boy and Maddie as they faced off against each other.
“Don’t be silly Maddie they are Imps just like us and they are going to take us to Sanctorea, you are aren’t you?”
The question from Lana was directed at all of the strange young people that had now surrounded them. It was the boy who broke the following silence.
“Yes of course young one although I think your friend is the funniest looking Imp that I have ever seen.”
With this the whole group erupted into laughter and even Lana joined in, much to Maddie’s annoyance.
“You should all take a look in the mirror; it looks as though you knocked up those clothes you wear on a broken sewing machine or by a blind seamstress.”
Ever since the boy had appeared Maddie had felt eyes upon her and those steely blue eyes belonged to the tall blonde girl standing on his left hand side. The striking girl was the only one of the bunch that looked as though she had been dressed with some style and the baton that was tucked into her belt gave Maddie the feeling that she was a fighter.
“You have a strange way of speaking and your dress is unfamiliar to me but I apologise if I have offended you. We embrace all here unless of course you wear the uniform of the Academies.”
Lana jumped up and down with delight at the boys words.
“See Maddie I told you that we would be safe here with our own kind.”
The boy who Maddie later found out was named Dylan was far from convinced that the girl with the dark red dress, service boots and leather jacket was one of their kind at all.
“Lissa take our guests back to our campsite, me and the others will join you shortly.”
It was a clear order from the boy and Lissa obeyed without question.
“Come with me you two, we have some walking to do.”
Maddie was about to object until she saw the expression on Lana’s face, it was one of total relief and she was not about to take that away from her.
“We are not ‘you two’, our names are Maddie and Lana, do please have the courtesy to use them.”
Lissa looked at Maddie and nodded sternly giving nothing of her feelings away.
“It is not safe to be out here on your own at night, they patrol this area and although they do not really want to find anyone that does not mean that you will not be beaten by them.”
There was nothing more to be said so Maddie fell in behind Lissa and Lana, keeping her thoughts to herself.
“We are here and Dylan will be back soon, please do not go to sleep as I imagine that he will have some questions for you.”
Maddie felt that Lissa meant he had questions for her and not Lana who already seemed at home in their camp.
“It is great here isn’t it?”
Maddie did not want to burst the younger girls bubble and so agreed with a nod. In truth as they sat around the open fire all she could think of was a camping trip that she had once been on with her Dad. It was a couple of years before he got sick and although she did not really enjoy the experience Maddie now treasured the memory of the time they had spent together.
Maddie was grateful for the fact that she had the presence of mind to bring her jacket as the rain began to lash against her already wet face. All she could think of as she ran down the darkening country lanes was that she could never set foot in that house again.