Free Wormwood Gate by Katherine Farmar Page A

Aisling’s lapels and clung on for all she was worth.
    â€˜Let go!’ Aisling cried, a little less loudly, now that some of the gulls’ beaks were occupied. ‘They won’t be able to grab you –’
    â€˜I’m not letting them take you!’ Julie shouted. ‘They won’t be able to carry us both!’
    â€˜Don’t be stupid! Let go!’ Aisling tried to prise Julie’s hands from her coat, but the gulls grabbed onto her sleeves. They grabbed Julie’s belt as well, and the hems of her leggings, and the straps of her bra. Aisling saw tears rising in Julie’s eyes as the gulls’ beaks pecked at her skin.
    â€˜It’s too late anyway,’ said Julie, grabbing Aisling around the waist and ducking her head.
    The gulls flapped their wings, and then the girls were lifted from the roof with a sickening lurch, and there was nothing beneath their feet any more. For a moment Aisling panicked, kicking out as if that would do any good. Julie squirmed too, but the gulls only flapped all the harder. Then Aisling felt Julie’s left foot touching the toe of her right boot, and her right foot touching the toe of her left boot. Like a little girl dancing with her father , she thought, and then, but there’s no dance floor. There’s no floor. There’s just –
    â€˜Hey,’ said Julie, ‘it’s going to be all right.’
    Aisling could feel a sob building up in her throat. She bit her lip to keep from crying.
    â€˜Listen,’ said Julie, her voice perfectly even, ‘now’s not a good time to break down, OK? They’re going to have to set us down some time, and when they do that you can cry as much as you like. But right now you need to take a deep breath and stay calm. Can you do that?’
    Aisling stared at her, her mind blank.
    â€˜Come on,’ Julie said. ‘Inhale. Deep breath. Let your belly expand. Can you do that?’
    Aisling closed her eyes and breathed in.
    â€˜OK, now exhale for a count of four, but preferably not in my face because I don’t know what you’ve been eating.’
    Aisling scowled and exhaled pointedly in Julie’s face.
    â€˜There, see?’ said Julie, laughing a little. ‘Now you’re yourself again.’
    â€˜You know, it’s remarkable how you manage to be a bitch even when you’re trying to be nice.’
    â€˜I’ve been with you all night,’ said Julie. ‘I’ve been taking notes.’
    â€˜If I had a free hand, I’d slap you.’
    â€˜I stopped you crying, didn’t I?’
    Aisling opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything there was a flurry and a bump and they were dropped unceremoniously to the ground. The seagulls circled around them once, crying out all the while, and then flew away in a burst of white feathers.
    Julie rolled off Aisling and Aisling scrambled to her feet. They were surrounded by men in strange, old-fashioned uniforms and helmets with face-guards, carrying halberds. The halberds were lowered, with the spiky bits aimed at the two of them.
    â€˜You are under arrest, by orders of the queen,’ said one of the men, whose uniform bore a red sash across his chest, ‘for trespassing, violation of curfew, climbing on a roof without a licence and intent to commit regicide.’
    Julie raised her hands in protest. ‘Hey, what? Regicide? We don’t want to kill the queen!’
    The man with the red sash sniffed. ‘Pfft, that’s what they all say. Haul ’em in, lads!’
    The guards seemed only too eager to do as he said – so eager, in fact, that both Aisling and Julie were grabbed by four guards each, two for each arm. It made their progress rather slow as they were marched from their landing spot to a narrow iron gate where yet another guard was waiting. This one wasn’t wearing a helmet; Aisling was somehow not surprised to see that he had the head of a dog,