Twenties Girl 68

“All right,” I say as soon as the door closes. “We’ll do them in order; it should be quite easy-” I break off in surprise. Sadie has planted herself right in front of me.

“When are we going to leave?” she demands. “I want to dance. This is my date.”

“I know.” I’m redoing my lip gloss quickly. “And we will.”

“When?”

“Sadie, come on. This is so much fun. Everyone’s having a brilliant time. You can dance anytime!”

“I can’t dance anytime!” Her voice rises in fury. “Who’s being selfish now? I want to go! Now!”

“We will! I promise. One more trick-”

“No! I’ve had enough of helping you! You’re on your own.”

“Sa-” I stop dead as she disappears before my eyes. “Sadie, don’t joke.” I wheel around, but there’s no answer or sight of her. “OK, very funny. Come back.”

Great. She’s in a huff.

“Sadie.” I adopt a humbler tone. “I’m sorry. I can understand you’re annoyed. Please come back and let’s talk about it.”

There’s no response. The little room is dead. I look around, feeling a bit more alarmed.

She can’t have gone.

I mean, she can’t have just left me.

I jump as there’s a knock at the door and Ed comes in. Ed’s turned into my unofficial assistant. He’s been marshaling the requests and handing out pens and paper.

“Five minds at once, huh?” he says as he enters.

“Oh.” I hastily plaster on a smile. “Er… yes! Why not?”

“There’s quite a crowd out there. All the people who were in the bar have come in to watch. Standing room only.” He gestures at the door. “Ready?”

“No!” Instinctively I back away. “I mean, I might take a moment first. I need to get my head straight. Have a breather.”

“I’m not surprised. Must take a lot of concentration.” Ed leans against the door frame and surveys me for a moment. “I’ve been watching you as hard as I can, but I still can’t figure it out. However you do it… it’s awesome.”

“Oh. Er… thanks.”

“See you out there.” The door closes behind Ed, and I wheel around.

“Sadie,” I call desperately. “Sadie! Sadie!”

OK. I’m in trouble.

The door opens and I give a small squeak of fright. Ed looks in again, a bit puzzled.

“I forgot-do you want a drink from the bar?”

“No.” I smile weakly. “Thanks.”

“Everything OK?”

“Yes! Of course. I’m just… focusing my powers. Getting into the zone.”

“Sure.” He nods understandingly. “I’ll leave you be.” The door closes again.

Fuck. What am I going to do? In a minute they’ll start demanding I come out. They’ll expect me to mind read. They’ll expect me to do magic. My chest is tight with fear.

There’s only one option: I have to escape. I look desperately around the little room, which is obviously used to store spare banquet furniture. No window. There’s a fire escape door in the far corner, but it’s blocked by a massive stack of gold chairs about ten feet high. I try to pull the chairs aside, but they’re too heavy. Fine. I’ll climb over them.

Determinedly, I put one foot on a chair and haul myself up. Then another. The gold lacquer is a bit slippery, but I’m managing. It’s like a ladder. A wonky, rickety ladder.

The only trouble is, the higher I get, the more the chairs are swaying. By the time I’m about eight feet up, the stack of chairs is teetering at quite a scary angle. It’s like the Leaning Tower of Gold Chairs, with me crouching in terror near the top.

If I took just one more huge step, I’d be over the summit and I could quickly scramble down the other side to the fire exit. But every time I move my foot, the stack wobbles so much I withdraw it in fright. I try shifting to the side-but the stack lurches even more. I clutch another chair desperately, not daring to look down. The whole thing feels like it’s going to fall, and the ground seems a really long way away.

I take a deep breath. I can’t stay here frozen forever. There’s nothing for it. I have to be brave and go over the top. I take a massive step up, placing my foot on a chair about three from the top. But as I shift my weight, the stack leans back so far I can’t help screaming.

“Lara!” The door bursts open and Ed appears. “What the hell-”

“Heeelp!” The whole stack of chairs is collapsing. I knew I should never have moved-