Chapter 8

Erica

I step into the room, surprised to find the scaffolding has completely gone. The arch we've been painting for the last couple of weeks glitters, and I have to admit that it looks better than I expected it to. I worried when we were painting that it was going to end up looking a bit amateurish, but it's come out well.

Footsteps sound behind me and I turn to find Rupert arriving.

"No Sami today?" I ask.

"He wasn't in the flat this morning," he answers.

"Ah, so his attempts to get D's attention are going well then?"

"How do you know about that?" There's a hint of surprise in his voice.

"He's not very subtle about it," I respond. "Most people know."

"Ah. I didn't realise."

"That Sami was crushing on D? Or that people knew about it?"

"The latter. Sami told me about D himself." The way he says it makes it seem like there's something more to it, but he doesn't give me any indication of what that might be. "The arch looks a lot better than I thought it would."

"Mmm. We did a good job," I respond. "But now we're going to be moving on to the other stuff."

"It's a shame, I enjoyed being able to run up and down as a weasel."

I laugh. "That was a lot of fun. I think there are some streamers that need to be put up along the edges of the archy. We can be weasels for that."

He raises an eyebrow. "Are we supposed to do that?"

"Climb around an academy room in our shifted forms?" I check. "Probably not. I imagine there are several rules about it."

"You're going to suggest we do it anyway, aren't you?"

I can't help the cheeky smile on my face. "It's the quickest way." I head over to a box and pull out a couple of balls of what look like ribbons.

I throw one of them to Rupert and he catches it easily.

"I'll race you up there." Before I can even respond, he brings forth a shift, turning into his weasel form and racing for the wall.

It only takes me a moment to realise what's happening. I shove the ribbon into my pocket and call forth a shift. There's a rigging rope over to my left. I'm not sure what it's attached to, but it's going to be a good way to get to the shelf that leads around to the arch.

They should really have left the scaffolding up until we could hang these, especially if they don't want us to do something like this and run around in our weasel forms.

I get to the spot where the wall ends and the arch is a few feet away. I twitch my nose as I look around to try and work out the best way to cross the gap. On the other side of the arch, I can see Rupert doing the same, and that just makes me want to go faster so I can get there before him.

I spot a light fixing and head backwards so I can take a running jump. I reach out with my front paws and throw myself around the fixture. It swings back and forth at a slightly alarming rate and I try not to think about how far down it's going to be if I fall to the ground.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Erica!" Rupert calls.

I manage to just about twist around so I can see Rupert at the edge of the arch. He's back in his human form, standing on the platform behind it.

"Here." He has a pole of some kind and holds it out, steady so that it's right in front of me. Slowly, I reach out and take hold of it, letting go of the light and scampering down until I'm behind the arch.

I shift back, breathing heavily. "Thanks."

"No problem. No one wants a flat weasel."

I snort despite my racing heartbeat. "I'm glad I'm not flat."

"Me too, can you imagine what a mess that would be? Robin wouldn't be happy."

"Well I'm glad you've been saved from having an awkward conversation."

"Me too. But seriously, are you okay?"

I nod. "Just misjudged the jump. Or I judged it right, but then thought better of it when I was halfway through."

"Mmm, I've been there."

I raise an eyebrow. "You have?"

"I think most shifters go through it at some point." He gestures to the platform. "We should sit."

"We have streamers to unfurl."

"And we'll do that once your heart rate is normal."

"Oh, so you're a vampire who can hear that now?"

He snorts. "You know I'm not a vampire," he responds. "But you did just have a scare, so it's perfectly reasonable to think that you need a minute."

"Just don't tell Robin. It's only a week until the ball now, and as far as the list goes, I don't think we're doing very well."

"Considering how much time we've saved by not having to go and find a ladder, it'll be fine."

"All right." I sit down, ignoring the slight wobble of the boards as I do. It's not as unstable as the light fixture. My pulse is already starting to return to normal, and a sense of amusement fills me. I burst out laughing, hardly believing that I nearly fell down from a light.

Rupert sits down beside me, a little amusement on his face, but he's not all out laughing like me.

"I can't believe I did that. What am I? Eight and thinking I'm invincible because I have a second form?"

"I knew you when you were eight, and you'd never have done anything like this then," he counters.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that I'm more reckless than when I was eight?"

He shrugs. "They do say that this is the time for making stupid mistakes."

"I think they mean drinking too much and hooking up with strangers," I point out.

"I suppose you need something to replace the first one, when you don't drink."

I swing my legs back and forth. "I'm sure Dad's going to be thrilled when I tell him that I've decided to start nearly falling to my death instead of just having the occasional drink."

"Have you ever had one?" he asks.

"Oh, yeah. Like twice. Not at home, obviously. Mum doesn't keep any alcohol in the house to help Dad stay sober." The confession comes out easily, though I don't know if that's because he's Rupert and something about the situation as it stands reminds me of when we used to be friends, or maybe it's because he already knows the basics of Dad's struggle with alcoholism. I suppose neither matter. "I didn't really like it much either time, so I never really carried on with it."

"I get that."

"Because you never drink?"

"Rarely," he admits. "I might have taken business because it's what Dad wanted, but I've been trying out for the county cricket team. I know it sounds dumb, but I want to try and get onto the England team. With Dad not really wanting me to do it, I have to do it all on my own. Not drinking means I'm in better shape for training. Though I'll still do it every now and again."

"Ah, so that's why you're here and not out partying celebrating the end of exams?"

"I need a summer job too, and it'll look good on my CV," Rupert says.

I snort. "You sound like me."

"Well, we did spend a lot of time together as kids."

"So you're saying that I had an effect on you?"

"Mmhmm. It's got to happen, right?" He looks at me in a way that makes me think he feels some of the same comfort that I do when I've been around him for the past week or so. Basically for as long as our truce has been in place.

"I suppose we did spend a lot of time together as kids," I say.

"Remember when we saw those squirrels chasing each other up trees and decided we should do it ourselves?"

He laughs. "You did better than just now."

"We found a nest of baby birds and realised we should probably go before we scared them. You fell down a couple of branches."

"See, I told you I'd done it myself," he says, bumping his shoulder against mine as he does.

I smile at him, feeling as if I've just regained something that I thought I would never get back.