I didn’t expect Josh to be back at college for a while, so I was surprised when I found him in English a couple of days later. Everyone cooed over him, asking if they could help him with anything, which he hated.
I stayed back, figuring he’d blame me for what’d happened like he did everything else. So when he fell into step with me after class, I was pretty surprised. He walked with a limp, and his left arm was in a sling, but he seemed determined to keep going. I admired that, but I did worry about him overdoing it. Still, it wasn’t my place to say anything. Not anymore.
‘Hey. Sorry for my dad the other day. He’s not normally like that.’
‘That’s OK. It isn’t your outburst to apologise for.’ I was pretty sure Harry wasn’t going to apologise for it any time soon. And it wasn’t Josh’s fault.
Everyone seemed to give us a wide berth as we walked, which was good, as it wouldn’t have taken much for someone to barge into his injured arm in such a crowded corridor.
‘No, but he did cause a scene in public, and for a minute I thought he was going to tell the whole room…you know.’ That was the most detail he could go into when we were surrounded by so many people. You never knew who was listening or might hear something they shouldn’t. If Goodfellow and Branwen had taught us anything, it was that.
And after what Josh had said to Tessa about keeping our secret, I knew he wouldn’t out anything supernatural in public. It was a small olive branch, and perhaps one that didn’t have much to do with me, but I’d take it anyway.
‘Me too. I’m just glad he didn’t.’
‘So am I,’ he said.
We continued on for a minute. There were some things I really wanted to know, but I was afraid to ask him. What if I pushed him too far and he closed the door again? Something told me he wouldn’t, but the paranoia was still there. I shoved it down and asked what was bothering me: ‘Why were you there in the middle of the night?’ I didn’t need to specify where.
Josh sighed, shaking his head. ‘It sounds dumb, now, but I thought it might help me talk to Tessa. I took one of those board thingies, but the bird picked it up and flung it over the fence.’
‘It’s not dumb,’ I said. ‘The veil can be thinner in graveyards. Although the board thing is dumb. You know that’s a copyrighted board game, right?’
He blushed, laughing. ‘No, I didn’t. Lesson learned.’ He shook his head in disbelief for a moment. ‘I feel so stupid now. I caused all those problems and I could’ve just asked you to help me.’
‘It’s not always easy to ask for help. Especially after everything else that’s happened.’
‘Yeah,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I wanted to get you and your mum something to say thanks, but I wasn’t sure what.’ Out of breath, he stopped and leaned against the wall.
I stopped, too, enjoying what was the first real conversation we’d had in weeks. Until he’d started walking with me, I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed it. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
He shrugged, then cringed and scrunched his face up.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Be fine,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘After the way I behaved, I really didn’t deserve your help. But you did it anyway.’
My insides twisted. ‘I’ll always help you if I can. It’s part of my job.’ As his friend, which I hoped I would be again some day, and as a necromancer. ‘None of what happened was your fault. Or mine.’
Josh shook his head, as if trying to clear it. ‘It’s just really hard for me to tell what’s real and what isn’t, still. The demons told me so much that’s turned out to be true, it’s made me doubt a lot of stuff. Tessa was totally unrelated to all that, so I guess that’s why I gravitated to her. But then she ended up being unintentionally involved, too.’ He inhaled deeply, then winced. Probably hurt his ribs filling his lungs so much. They were pretty bruised from what Maggie had told us. ‘I guess I’ll never be able to fully avoid it.’
‘Once you know about it, it’s kind of hard to,’ I agreed. ‘You see it everywhere.’ Sometimes, I really wanted to avoid it. Then I remembered that it was the reason I had Fadil and Spectre in my life, and why Mum had Ben. The good came with the bad. ‘I’m really sorry Goodfellow targeted you. You’ve been through so much.’
‘Was that his name?’ Josh shuddered. ‘I felt how strong he was. How angry he was. I really thought he was going to kill me. Then everyone else who was there, too.’
So had I.
‘It was nice to be able to fight back this time. I felt like Thomas did most of the work, but at least I wasn’t completely helpless.’ He paused for a moment, looking off to the side, as if in thought. ‘Just how powerful is Thomas, exactly?’
‘I’m not sure. We only just found out what he can do.’
‘Another one, huh? What are the odds?’
‘Pretty slim, actually,’ I said, moving out of the way so that a group of people could walk past and get outside. The wind had been cold and sharp when I’d arrived that morning; I was in no rush to get outside and feel it again.
‘There’s something special about you Porters, and I don’t just mean in a supernatural sense,’ said Josh.
My heart fluttered. Had he just complimented me? Was he so dosed up on codeine he wasn’t thinking about what he was saying?
‘Thanks,’ I said as butterflies filled my stomach. I tried to suppress them, but it didn’t work all that well.
If Josh noticed my inner struggle, he didn’t say anything. ‘Has Tessa crossed over now it’s all over?’ Way to kill the compliment.
‘Yes. Believe it or not, she took Goodfellow’s raven with her.’
Josh lowered an eyebrow. ‘The crazy doctor had a pet raven?’
‘She scouted out potential victims for him. They must’ve had some sort of special link or way of communicating. I mean, ravens can talk, but he had to train her to identify potential victims somehow. He whistled to summon her, as well as to torture his victims.’
‘Ghosts can whistle?’
‘Apparently,’ I said, half-laughing. ‘It was new to us, too.’
‘I guess some things we’ll never know,’ said Josh.
‘Sadly,’ I agreed with a frown. I hated not knowing things, but the most important thing was that Goodfellow was gone. Was that the end of our drama? At least for now? I really hoped so. I needed a break.
‘Are you done with exams now? It sucks you had to do all this on top of them,’ said Josh.
‘Yeah. Although I’m not really feeling all that festive after everything that’s happened,’ I confessed.
‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘But Mum seems determined to celebrate, if only for Abigail’s sake. At least it’s for a good cause.’
‘It’s Abigail’s favourite time of the year, and you’ve all been through a lot this year. You can’t really blame her, right?’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ Josh nodded. He watched as a few more people walked past. The corridors were getting quieter, now. Just how long had we been talking? I wasn’t complaining, but I didn’t want to hold Josh up, either.
‘Have you finished your uni applications?’ he asked. Maybe he did want to keep talking? I wasn’t complaining.
‘Not you as well.’ I rolled my eyes, slipping back into our old ways. I probably should’ve been more polite since we weren’t friends anymore, but I was too drained to play pretend.
‘What? What did I do?’ He looked genuinely confused.
‘Sorry. Mum and Mrs Mitchell have been on at me to apply. I really didn’t want to go, but I can’t help but think about all that Tessa’s missing out on. Maybe I should leave the door open for a little while longer, just in case.’
Josh pushed himself away from the wall and started walking again. We carried on to the end of the corridor and out the front door. The wind was just as sharp as I’d expected. I shuddered.
‘Exactly. It never hurts, right? It’s not like you have to decide your whole future right now, even if they do make it feel like that sometimes.’ Josh pulled his scarf tighter around his neck.
I scoffed, rolling my eyes again. ‘Yeah, they really do. But who knows what’s in store for us?’
‘Not me,’ said Josh as we climbed down the stairs. ‘It’s a little scary.’
Fadil stood just to the left of the stairs outside college, coffees in hand.
‘Thanks. You haven’t been waiting long, have you?’ I said, taking my usual order from him.
‘No. Saw you two talking and didn’t want to interrupt.’ He smirked at me. Even though he’d never met Josh properly, he knew pretty much everything about my history with him.
‘You look better,’ I said, ignoring the look on his face.
‘I am, thanks.’ He rubbed his head. ‘Doc said you wouldn’t even know I’d had a head injury. And as horrible as having the lurgy was, I think it might’ve helped me acclimatise.’
‘That’s good,’ I said.
Josh stood awkwardly beside me, his free hand stuffed into his pocket as he rocked on his heels.
‘Oh, sorry! You two haven’t properly met yet.’ How had I forgotten to introduce them? I was such an idiot. ‘Fadil, this is Josh. Josh, this is Fadil.’
Josh shook Fadil’s hand. ‘Fadil…you’re…from Egypt, right?’
Fadil nodded. ‘That’s me. Ben’s cousin from Egypt.’
Maggie had probably told him about Fadil, which was fair enough. He was already a part of our world, and he was keeping our cover. He’d go along with Fadil being Ben’s cousin. If the last few days had taught me anything, it was that.
‘Are you planning to stick around for a while?’ Josh asked Fadil.
‘Yeah, I think so.’ Fadil sipped his coffee. ‘I think Ben’s going to need me.’