The Darkest Corners by Barry Hutchison Page A

for this. He didn’t care about me. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone. He just thought I could help him get to you. And it turned out he was right.’
    Her voice had been growing weaker with every word. The last few came out as barely a whisper. ‘So I didn’t choose a side, Kyle. I didn’t even know there were sides. I wasn’t given that choice to make.’
    She looked away and hung her head.
    I should hate her. I wanted to hate her.
    So why couldn’t I hate her?
    â€˜Choose.’
    She lifted her head and blinked. ‘What?’
    â€˜Choose,’ I said. ‘I’m giving you the choice he didn’t.’
    Ameena sniffed and brushed the hair out of her eyes. ‘There’s no choice to make. It’s you, Kyle. It will always be you.’ She tried a smile to go with it, but it didn’t amount to much.
    I held out a hand and was surprised to find it was as steady as a rock. Her fingers trembled as they slipped into mine and I helped her back to her feet.
    â€˜So, we’re OK now? Do you, like, you know? Forgive me?’
    â€˜No. I can’t. I mean, not yet, anyway. I want to believe you. I want to trust you again, like I did. But I can’t. Not yet.’
    She gave a resigned shrug. ‘Maybe someday, huh?’
    â€˜Maybe someday.’
    Ameena followed me over to the window. The whole village was in chaos, with more fires burning and more grotesque shapes lumbering through the streets.
    â€˜There’s no snow,’ I realised.
    â€˜Yeah, don’t really know what happened there,’ she admitted. ‘Don’t even know where it came from in the first place. It was nothing to do with us.’ She looked at me guiltily. ‘I mean, you know? Him. He was as surprised as you were.’
    I filed that bit of information away. ‘Where is he now?’
    â€˜I’m not sure,’ she admitted. ‘But he’s planning on setting himself up in power. He likes the idea of being in charge.’
    â€˜In charge? Of that?’ I said, motioning at the rampaging creatures below. ‘How can anyone take charge of that?’
    â€˜Not everyone from over there is a monster,’ she said defensively. ‘They’re the minority. A very vocal minority, I’ll give you, but still a minority.’
    â€˜What about Billy? Where did they take him?’
    â€˜I don’t know.’
    â€˜Well, think,’ I told her. ‘You’re my person on the inside.’
    â€˜I thought I was your trusty sidekick?’
    â€˜Well, now you’re both. Think. One of Doc’s porters took him from the church.’
    â€˜Hospital then, probably.’ She caught my next sentence before it came out of my mouth. ‘Not this one. One that you didn’t magic into existence. Could be his own hospital, but probably just the closest one; it wouldn’t make any difference to him now.’
    â€˜The town then,’ I said, looking out at that orange-tinted sky again. The hospital where they’d first taken my mum after she’d been attacked by the Crowmaster was in the next town. It was only a few miles away, but with the streets the way they were, it may as well have been on the moon.
    â€˜We’ve got to try,’ I said, speaking the end of that thought out loud. ‘We can’t just leave him.’
    â€˜Well, we could,’ Ameena said, then she caught my expression. ‘No, of course we can’t. What was I thinking?’ She chewed her lip. ‘Why can’t we leave him again?’
    â€˜Because he’s one of us. He’s on our side. He’s –’ I stumbled over the words – ‘my friend.’
    â€˜Well, alrighty then,’ Ameena said. She gave a slight bow, then gestured towards the door. ‘After you.’
    I turned and took a few steps towards the door. A familiar figure was creeping cautiously along the hall towards us.
    â€˜Kyle?’ she