The City of Shades by P. J. Whittlesea

Author:P. J. Whittlesea [Whittlesea, P. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-03T18:02:06+00:00

The Park

Outside, in front of the station, the road was wide and busy, clogged with traffic. Beyond it, on the other side, was the park. There was another place she could hide. In the park she would be safe. Very soon Nan would be there.

Curse the shade. She had wanted time alone to explore and have some fun. That idea had misfired and fallen flat. Thank you, whoever you are, for giving me this gift. Not! Curse being a witch! Give a girl a break! I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. She wiped the sweat from her brow and examined the back of her hand. It was coated in black grime. London, city of smog.

She moved away from the entrance to the station. This concert better be good. There was a set of traffic lights and a crossing further down the footpath. She pulled out the promptuary and opened it.

'Red,' she said, and trudged despondently over to the pedestrian crossing.

The traffic lights flickered and changed colour. The traffic screeched to a halt. A large truck had problems slowing in time. Its air-brakes hissed in protest and it almost back-ended a small black car standing at the stoplights. Dragging her feet, she crossed the road in front of the little car. She glanced at it as she passed. She could have sworn the vehicle's headlights followed her like eyes.

Stop imagining things.

She hurried over to the opposite footpath. In front of her was the entrance to the park. She slipped between the wrought-iron gates. Inside was an ancient oak tree with a massive trunk. She scampered around it and peered back across the road at the station entrance. A businessman appeared. Is it him? She looked at the ground beneath his feet. No shadow. Yep, it's him.

He stood on the footpath, swaying on the spot, his arms hanging loosely by his sides. Even with the camouflage she sensed his dejection. Good, now it's your turn to be frustrated. Stupid shade! The lights changed and traffic flowed between them. A river of metal which would be impossible for him to cross. That should keep you busy for a while.

Moving further into the park, she kept the tree between her and the shade's line of sight. Then she heard the roar of a crowd. Strange, I didn't hear it before. Must have been the traffic. She smiled. At least it should be easy to find the concert.

Anaïs followed the sound. It grew louder as she got closer. From the noise it was clear there were thousands of people. She picked her way through the trees and came face to face with a security fence. She walked along it until she stumbled onto a wide pathway. It was filled with concertgoers. She was quite close to the entrance. A transit van zipped down the side of the path. She had to jump back into the bushes to avoid being hit by it. Man, what's the hurry?

She stepped back out onto the pathway and let the flow of the crowd carry her towards the entrance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.