Goddess of Gotham by Amanda Lees Page B

by her efforts.
    ‘Look, guys, free Coke!’ yelled a kid and suddenly they were shoving the tables aside, surging across the cafeteria.
    ‘Do that again,’ ordered a boy but, shaking her head, Kumari backed off. Thwarted, the boy began to kick the machine, urged on by the others.
    Pandemonium grew as the supervisors waded in, shouting at the kids to stop.
    ‘You there,’ yelled one at Kumari. ‘You stand right where you are.’
    Bad idea. The man’s face was puce with rage. Kumari kept backing away.
    Then she was falling, a stray can bringing her down. As her tail bone hit the floor, Kumari heard a familiar squawk. Jolted out from his hiding place, Badmash shot into the air.
    ‘Ohmygawd look at that!’
    ‘It’s a bird! In the cafeteria!’
    ‘Catch it! Bring it down!’
    Frantically, Kumari tried to grab Badmash. But freedom was too much fun after hours cooped up under her coat. He fluttered around the cafeteria before spying the food and swooping down. Three
passes later, Badmash returned to perch on her shoulder, satisfied. A hot dog sausage dangled from his beak like some oversized worm.
    ‘What’s the matter? You never seen a bird before?’ demanded Kumari of the gawping crowd. ‘You’ll hurt his feelings. Stop staring.’
    A half-full can shot past her ear, its contents spattering them both.
    ‘Kill it,’ came a howl. It was definitely time to leave.
    Slamming through the swing doors, Kumari started to run, ignoring the shouts from behind her. Racing blind down the corridors, looking for somewhere to hide. At last she saw an open door and
dived inside. A man looked up, startled.
    ‘Hey, this is the men’s room!’
    ‘S-sorry,’ stuttered Kumari, swiftly backing out.
    The shouts faded behind her as she sprinted along. Finally, she slowed to a walk. She’d keep moving all the same. On and on she tramped, along endless passageways. By chance, she stumbled
across the entrance lobby, spotted the men in uniform and turned tail. These corridors went on for miles. She could walk around and around all day. That seemed like a good plan, just keep out the
way until they opened the gates. Badmash had settled down for a snooze against her chest, once more sated and happy. If she went back to her classroom now, they would definitely take him away. She
had so been looking forward to school, but it was nothing like she had expected. The same with the World Beyond. How she longed for home.
    Her vision blurred by unshed tears, Kumari trudged on. It was hopeless. No one challenged her as she wandered past. If this was school, they could keep it. A part of her even missed the RHM, annoying though he could be. At least he cared that she
learned something. Here, learning was way down the agenda. She had seen the looks on the teachers’ faces. They all looked worn down, tired out. Except for Ms Martin. She at least had
appeared alive. Actually, this corridor looked familiar. Her classroom was just down there. Lining the walls that lead to it, rows of what appeared to be cupboards. Slouching against these, a group
of kids she dimly recognised.
    ‘It’s her!’ one of them shouted.
    Their heads turned as one. Run! shrieked the voice in her brain but her tired feet were rooted to the spot.
    Rough hands pulled her forward.
    ‘Here, we got something to show you. See, we had a tip off you were coming. So we thought we would welcome you by decorating your locker.’
    They were holding open the door of one of the cupboards, sneering as they pointed. The door was festooned with clippings, taken from a newspaper. Kumari’s eyes fell on a familiar headline: Manhattan Mystery Girl, it screamed.
    ‘That’s you, isn’t it?’ jeered a voice. ‘What are you, some kind of weirdo?’
    ‘Yeah, where you come from?’ crowed another. ‘Says here you don’t know.’
    ‘Give us your bird,’ said a third, grabbing her by the shoulders. As Kumari began to kick and scream, Badmash was hauled from her embrace. Amid mocking