Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
‘Good sneaking!’ I congratulated him with a wry smile.
Slipping on my sandals, I stepped forward, my arms outstretched for a hug. I expected a similar jovial reply in greeting, but he didn’t even smile. And even in this light, I could tell something was wrong. My arms dropped to my sides.
‘Callum?’
Callum stepped forward and kissed me. A brief, icy-cold kiss on the lips. He stepped away from me, his eyes filled with regret. And then I saw them behind him. Four of them. Four noughts. Walking towards us. Towards me. A quick glance at Callum. Shock on my face. Confirmation, resignation on his. And I didn’t wait to see any more. I turned and ran. Ran along the shore. Away from them. Away from Callum. Ran for my life. I could hear them yelling behind me. Not the words. I didn’t try to decipher the words.
Run, Sephy. Don’t stop . . .
No sounds of footsteps on the sand. Just shouts and curses and laboured breathing. No lights to guide my way. Even the moonlight was fading as a cloud hid the moon’s face from me. Salty, damp air caught in the back of my throat. Run. Run. RUN.
Don’t look back . . . They’ll catch you if you do . . . Don’t look . . .
And most of all, don’t think. Don’t think about him. Don’t think about anything. JUST RUN.
And then I realized my mistake. I was kilometres from anywhere. And I was running away from the cliff steps, not towards them. And I had four noughts after me . . . Five.
Head for the sea . . .
I turned on my heels and sprinted towards the darkness. Before my third step, I was grabbed by the waist and swung around. I kicked back with my heels and swung my head back at the same time.
‘Oof!’
He dropped me and I hit the ground running.
‘Bloody dagger bitch!’
I ran straight into a crucifying punch to my stomach that had me instantly doubled over and retching onto the sand.
‘That’s for my sister,’ a voice above me said. At least I think it did. My stomach was on fire and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball. Arms clamped around my waist from behind and lifted me up, tightening until I could hardly breathe. The man who held me shook me hard then banged me down onto my feet. Without giving me a chance to catch my scattered breath, he immediately began to drag me backwards, his hands under my arms. My bare heels dragged over sharp rocks and stones. I raised my arms to try and slide out of the man’s grasp. But he was ready for that one. My arms slid down his but he grabbed my hands before I could free myself and now I was being pulled backwards by my hands. My legs and my back were being punctured by the rocks and stones. The man holding me jumped up onto a boulder, almost pulling my arms out of their sockets as he dragged me after him. My whole body was pain now. Closing my eyes, I whimpered.
Don’t pass out! Open your eyes . . .
I opened my eyes to see the moon almost directly above me and just for one split second my body no longer hurt. Then a dark bag was shoved over my head and the world turned to blackest ink.
ninety-four. Callum
‘We did it!’ Jude was jubilant. ‘We ruddy DID it!’
Pete and Morgan danced an impromptu jig around each other. Yes, we had done it. We had Persephone Hadley, Kamal Hadley’s daughter. And she wouldn’t see the light of day again if Kamal didn’t agree to our demands. As simple as that. We’d bundled the unconscious Sephy into the boot of our car and now we had her stashed away where no-one would ever find her – or us. We were in the middle of nowhere – the perfect location. Weren’t we clever?
‘I’m proud of you, little brother.’ Jude slapped me on the back.
I spun, grabbed his jacket and shoved him against the wall, all in one movement.
‘Don’t you ever doubt my loyalty again. D’you understand me?’ I hissed, my face only centimetres away from Jude’s.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Morgan step forward, only to be pulled back by Pete. I didn’t care. I’d take on all of them to get to Jude if I had to. My brother and I watched each other for silent moments.
‘D’you understand?’ I repeated, slamming him against the wall again.
‘I understand,’ Jude said.
I released him at once. We regarded each other.
‘So the mouse can roar, can he?’ Jude smiled.
I took a step forward, my fists clenched.
‘Peace, brother. Peace.’ Jude held up his hands, laughing at the expression on my face.
I clenched my fists even harder at that. Never before had I wanted to hurt him as much as I did now. I wanted to destroy him. Hatred churned inside me, feeding on itself and growing bigger.
‘You did a good job,’ Jude told me softly.
I turned away from the approbation on his face. Morgan, Pete and even Leila had the same look of praise and admiration all over their stupid faces too.
‘What’s our next move?’ Pete asked Jude, all past resentments forgotten.
‘We deliver the ransom note with proof we have her to the girl’s father,’ Jude replied.
‘What kind of proof?’ I asked more sharply than I intended.
‘What would you suggest, little brother?’
Another test. ‘I’ll sort that out. I’ll cut off some of her hair and film her holding today’s paper.’
‘Maybe we need something more convincing than just her hair?’ Jude suggested.
Another test.
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘You tell me, little brother.’
I made my mind go blank. It wasn’t Sephy in there. It was just some Cross female who we needed to get what we wanted. It wasn’t Sephy . . .
‘Something of hers that’s bloodstained might be more effective,’ I suggested.
‘Good idea.’ Jude nodded. ‘What would you suggest?’
‘Leave it to me. I’ll sort that out too.’ I took the camcorder down from the shelf and put a fresh disc inside it. A strange silence filled the room. I looked up to find all eyes upon me.
‘Yes?’ I said through gritted teeth.
Everyone made a big display of going about their business at that. I took some scissors and a sharp knife out of the drawer and, tucking today’s paper under my arm, I headed for Sephy’s prison cell. I walked along the short corridor of our three-room brick cabin. It wasn’t much. The kitchen was disgusting, with years of neglected grease and grime over practically every surface. Jude had suggested that someone clean it, looking pointedly at Leila as he said so. In response, she’d let her fingers do the talking. Apart from the kitchen there was the living room, full of rolled-up sleeping bags, a small oak table and all the equipment we might need in a hurry: tins of food, weapons, a few explosives, a small TV, a radio, that sort of thing. The third room had been turned into a cell. Not by us. That was just what this place was used for, a place to hold a prisoner or two and their wardens.
Ever since the information had filtered down over two weeks ago now that Sephy could be on her way home, Jude and Pete had been plotting and planning for this moment. They’d got permission from the General himself to go ahead. And the General’s second-in-command was due to come and see us the day after it happened. So much scheming and calculating to bring us to this moment. We were pretty safe in this cabin; it was known to a select few on a need to know basis only. But we weren’t going to take any chances. Two of us would be on guard at all times, one out front and one out back. And as the cabin was in a clearing in some woods, anyone coming towards us would find themselves without cover of any kind before they reached us.
Everything was taken care of.
And we’d succeeded. We had Sephy. NO! Not Sephy . . . Just a Cross girl – who deserved everything she got, who’d get us everything we needed. I paused outside the cell door. I could do this. I had to do this.
Be what you have to be, Callum, not what you are . . .
I repeated that phrase over and over in my head, the way I used to do when I first joined the L.M. The way I had to whenever there was something . . . di
Be what you have to be, Callum, not what you are.
I unlocked the cell door and went inside.
ninety-five. Sephy
At the sound of the door being unlocked, I struggled to sit up. My bed was just a wire spring base with a mattress as thin as a carrier bag. I groaned and winced, wrapping my arms around my painful stomach. It ached like nothing I’d ever felt before. My whole body hurt, from my heels to my nape. Had they tried to strangle me? My throat certainly hurt as if someone had done exactly that. The door opened. I moved my hands away from my abdomen. I wasn’t going to show any of my captors how badly hurt I was.
Callum . . .
The sight of him standing in the doorway was like an arrow whizzing straight through my body. He wasn’t the Callum I’d grown up with and I’d been an idiot to think he would be. It had all been a trick. A trap. And like the biggest fool in the universe, I’d fallen for it. He took a step towards me. Afraid, I drew back. For a briefest of seconds, I thought he flinched. But I was just imagining things. He couldn’t care less how I thought of him.
He came over to me. I drew back even further. What was he going to do? It was only when he was leaning over me that I noticed the scissors in his hands. I trembled, terrified, then clamped my teeth together hard in an effort to stop myself from shaking.
Whatever happens, don’t cry. Don’t beg.
As Callum’s hands touched my hair, I froze. I looked up at him without even blinking. I couldn’t even wonder what he was doing. My mind was shutting down. Then I heard the clip of the scissors and Callum moved away. Only then did I look away, my body slumping with such relief that I felt sick with it. My hand flew to my head. He’d cut off some of my hair. That was all. Just some of my hair.
‘I want you to hold this newspaper,’ Callum told me.
His voice was different. Deeper. Gruffer. And I’d missed it. I’d missed a lot of things.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘I need to film you holding today’s paper.’
That wasn’t what I was asking.
‘I’m not going to help you.’ I folded my arms across my chest. No way was I going to hold that paper or do anything else he told me to do.
Two other noughts appeared behind Callum in the doorway. With a start, I saw that one of them was a woman, not the man I’d thought her on the beach.
‘Hold that paper or we’ll break your arms and arrange them in such a way that you’ll have no choice,’ the man behind Callum hissed at me.
Callum turned to look at him. I’d seen him somewhere before, if I could just figure out . . .
‘I don’t need you standing over me, supervising,’ Callum fumed.
‘Not supervising. Just observing, little brother.’
And only then did I recognize him. Jude, Callum’s brother.
‘Nothing like keeping kidnapping in the family, is there?’ I told them.
‘Hold the newspaper, Sephy,’ Callum held it out for me.
Reluctantly I took it. Callum lifted up his camcorder, only to lower it again immediately.
‘Look, I don’t need an audience,’ Callum told the spectators.
‘I’ve come to see the daughter of the famous Kamal Hadley,’ the woman replied. ‘Let’s see the silver spoon then.’
I regarded her, trying not to cringe at the venom in her voice. Without knowing a single thing about me, she hated my guts. I was a Cross and that was all she wanted or needed to know.
‘I bet you’ve never had more to worry about in your life than chipping the odd fingernail,’ the woman hissed at me.
‘Leila, go and do your job. Guard the front,’ Jude told her.
Casting one last poisonous look at me, Leila did as directed. I’d have to be careful of that one. She wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire. None of them would.
‘I want you to read out that message for your father,’ Callum told me, handing me a piece of paper with my lines on it. He held up the camcorder to watch the preview screen. I glanced down at the sheet. If he thought I was going to say any of this then he was crazy. I scrunched it up and threw it across the room.
‘Dad, don’t give them a penny,’ I shouted.
Callum lowered the camcorder but before he could say a word, Jude flew across the room, grabbed hold of both my jacket lapels with just one hand and slapped my face, before shaking me viciously.
‘You’re not in control here. We are. And you will do as you’re told or you won’t leave this place alive. D’you understand?’
I rubbed my cheek, fighting to hold back the tears.
‘You will do exactly as you are told or I will make this place your hell on earth. None of us are going to take any of your crap,’ Jude said softly.
He let go of me so suddenly I fell backwards onto the bed, hitting my head against the brick wall behind me. Jude straightened up and headed out of the room, pausing briefly as he reached Callum.
‘Make sure she does as she’s told,’ he said, making sure I could hear.
Moments later he was gone.
I wondered about making a break for it but Callum was between me and the door, plus from the sound of it the front door was guarded by that girl, Leila. And Jude wouldn’t hesitate to take me down if he reckoned it was required. I had to bide my time. If only my head would stop ringing so that I could think straight. If only my stomach would stop hurting so I could at least sit up without pain. If only . . . if only . . .
I had to get him talking. I had to get him to remember me, remember us as we used to be. I had to get him to think of me again as a fellow human being with a name and thoughts and feelings, instead of the nothing I obviously was to him now.
‘Callum, I understand why you feel you have to do this,’ I began. ‘I really do. But this isn’t the way.’
Nothing.
But I wasn’t going to give up. ‘Callum, listen to me. At Chivers I became involved in protests and debates and sit-ins. If you try to change the world using violence, you’ll just swap one form of injustice for another. This isn’t right. There are other ways . . .’
‘Like what? Like being educated to fight the system from within?’ Callum challenged. ‘I tried that – remember?’
‘I know, but if you’d just give it another try . . . I could help you . . .’
‘I don’t want to hear it. And I don’t want your ruddy help. I’m sick of your charity and your handouts,’ he interrupted. ‘You’re just like all the others. You think we noughts can’t do a damned thing unless you Crosses are there to help or supervise.’ And his body shook with such rage that I had to force myself to continue.
‘Don’t hate me for wanting to change the way things are. I believe in you, Callum. You can change the world, I know you can. But not like this,’ I said. ‘I’m not trying to be magnanimous or patronizing. I genuinely want to help but . . .’
‘Enough! Hold up the newspaper and read the words on this,’ Callum ordered, handing me the now smoothed-out sheet of paper again. I looked up at Callum.
‘Read it,’ he said, his attention on the camcorder and nothing else.
‘Callum, please . . .’
‘READ IT.’
After a moment’s pause, I began to read.
ninety-six. Callum
‘Dad,
I’ve been ordered to read what’s on this sheet. I’ve been kidnapped and the kidnappers say you’ll never see me again unless you do exactly as instructed. Your instructions will be in the envelope along with this video disc. You have twenty-four hours to follow their instructions to the letter. If you don’t, I’ll . . . I’ll be k-killed. If you go to the police or tell anyone, I’ll be killed. The kidnappers will know every move you make and every person you talk to. If you ever want to see me alive again, please do as they say.’
Sephy looked up from her sheet of paper, tears trickling down her cheeks. I moved my hand up to indicate that she should lift up the newspaper. She did so at once. I zoomed into the paper so th
‘That ought to do it.’ I took the newspaper from Sephy’s unresisting hand. I looked her up and down critically. ‘What’re you wearing?’
‘Pardon?’
‘You heard me.’
Puzzled, Sephy said, ‘Trousers, a jacket, a jumper.’
‘Tell me everything you’re wearing,’ I ordered.
Silence.
‘I can always find out for myself,’ I threatened.
‘Sandals, jeans, knickers, watch, bra, T-shirt, jumper, necklace, jacket, earrings. Satisfied?’
‘Take off your T-shirt.’
‘No way.’
‘Take off your T-shirt or I’ll do it for you.’
Sephy gave me a long, hard, fearful look. She obviously decided I was serious, which I was, because she started to take off her jacket.
‘Are you going to kill me, Callum?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ I closed my eyes and turned away so Sephy couldn’t see my face. Why couldn’t she just shut up? Why did it have to be her? I thought I could do this . . .
‘I never realized just how much you and your family hate us,’ Sephy whispered. ‘Jude looked at me like he wanted to kill me just now. Why does he hate me so much? Is it me personally or just what I am?’