Shadow in the Tides - Bonus Material 1

In Chapter 29, Ms Charlotte informs her English lit class that the usual location for the oath ceremony is inaccessible. With Chloe’s encouragement, Addison suggests the ruins as an alternative. Here’s how the scene plays out from Liam’s perspective:

Liam wakes with a jolt and immediately groans upon realising that he’s still in English lit. And Ms Charlotte is still talking about relocating the oath ceremony. He must have dropped off only for a few seconds, but his brain feels scrambled. He yawns, stretches and reaches for his pen on habit.

Sara leans across and taps his desk when Ms Charlotte’s back is turned. ‘Draw me something,’ she whispers.

Liam sighs and drops his pen from a height. It clatters loudly, causing Ms Charlotte to lose her train of thought. Sara makes a face and retracts her hand from his desk.

Liam can’t say for sure, but he gets the feeling that he might be dating Sara. Seems strange that this could have happened without his knowledge. It’s been a gradual dawning. Not only that he’s dating Sara, but that he’s the last person to figure it out. Everyone else in school knew his relationship status before him.

Students in the rows ahead simultaneously turn towards the back row where he sits. Liam is not properly awake yet, but finds himself mirroring the action to his left. It can only mean one thing: the new girl is making waves again.

Rumour on her first day was that Addison Fenugreek was studious, solitary and changed schools weekly. But in this class, she never stops debating. He wishes someone would tell her straight: there is no arguing with the Mantua legend. There’s no way out. Liam doesn’t take geometry with Addison, but assumes she’s that student who protests learning acute angles because they’ll ‘never use geometry in real life’. Wasting ten minutes of everyone’s time and energy by fighting a lost cause. He wonders if Addison genuinely thinks she’s the only person to spot inconsistencies in the setwork. That no one else noticed the great fire of Mantua hops years almost as often as the writer loses track of the plot? But the oath will be taken, same as geometry will remain in the school curriculum. Why bother debating the irrefutable?

‘We have a suggestion?’ Ms Charlotte asks hopefully.

Addison suggests staging the oath ceremony at the ruins.

Liam sighs at the predictability of it all. During his internal rant, his hand had instinctively found his pen, so he drops it again. And it clatters loudly again, prompting Ms Charlotte to flounder again. Again and again. Repetition. Mantua in a nutshell.

Another scuffle along the lefthand wall draws the attention of the class. His eyes gravitate to the empty desk in the row ahead. A few of the other students catch his eye. Same silent question as always: Is it the agitator? They sense, as he does, that the atmosphere in English lit is unsettled and choppy. It might be Addison’s participation, or it might be the counter-balance annoyance provoked by Ms Charlotte’s positivity. Liam knows better than to jump to conclusions, but he makes a mental note to tell his father that the school should clear out the surplus furniture. It invites anxiety.

He checks Joel Carricks’ response. The unexplained ruckus briefly broke Carrick’s focus from The Day of the Triffids, but there’s no indication that he sees anything at the empty desk and he has returned to reading.

Liam puffs out his cheeks. Before he wised up and realised what a giant waste it was to give a damn, Liam spent many afternoons in detention as punishment for ‘doodling’ during lessons. But Carrick never gets detention or even told off by the teachers for reading during class. Why? Because he was in a car accident? Because reading The Day of the Triffids is more educational than drawing comics? Won’t make a difference if it’s a 1950s car magazine tomorrow. Special treatment for the headteacher’s son, plain and simple.

New girl bores the class with more lame reasons for stranding the town at the ruins for the oath ceremony. Liam scoffs. At least Ms Charlotte doesn’t bother to entertain the idea.

But then he catches Sara cautiously raising her hand. ‘I also like the idea,’ she says. ‘The ruins lit up in candlelight would be amazing.’

There’s something peculiar in the intonation. Amazing. Amazing. A-ma-zing. It ripples like an echo across the room. Liam shakes his ears as if to dislodge water.

‘What do you think?’ Sara asks as they pack up for the end of class. ‘About the oath ceremony at the ruins? We could go as Romeo and Juliet.’

‘The council will never approve the ruins. Is that new?’ Liam gestures to the orange puffer jacket that she’s pulling on.

Sara laughs. ‘I’ve had this a couple of weeks, but points for finally noticing.’

Liam doesn’t want points. He recognises that it’s very important to tell Sara that he doesn’t want those points, but she’s still talking:

‘I’ve always wanted a jacket like this. I’m obsessed with the colour. A-ma-zing, don’t you think?’ Liam and Sara are last putting on their shoes. At least her rain boots aren’t a colour visible from space. ‘Wanna ditch philosophy?’ she asks.

Liam agrees before fully understanding Sara’s question. It’s her smile – unguarded and hopeful – that snaps him back. He shouldn’t be ditching class with her. Everything he does somehow gives her the wrong impression.

She links her arm through his and drags him towards the muddy quad.

He checks over his shoulder. ‘We should—’

‘Talk about being accountability partners? I was thinking the same. Let’s crash in 302. You can draw me something. It’s been ages.’

‘What’s the point?’ he asks.

‘The point is that you like to draw and you’re incredibly talented.’

The mud is thick and they switch from walking to wading. Instead of being able to disengage from Sara’s arm, Liam finds that he’s almost carrying her. He scrambles onto the 300s corridor and hauls her after him. While she thumps the mud from her boots, Liam surveys the cesspit they crawled through.

‘There’s no point,’ he says. ‘We can barely get across the quad. How would we get out of this town?’

‘What does drawing have to do with leaving Mantua? Unless … is this the webtoon thing? Liam?’ The softness in her voice gives him the urge to jump back into the mud.

‘It was a stupid idea anyway.’

‘Not stupid,’ she says. ‘But your parents are right. The new recycling plant will be operational by the time we graduate. There’ll be jobs for us there. And you can still do something creative as a hobby. Or you could teach at the rec centre in Edgewater.’

He grits his teeth. ‘Yeah, you’re right. That’s the same. So … why 302?’

‘Olivia says the piano music is loudest in 302. Dare you!’

‘You know there aren’t any pianos in Mantua.’

‘Exactly! So if we hear piano music, it’s the agitator. Or someone’s got a classical playlist and speakers hidden in the walls. You scared?’ she teases.

‘Please.’

‘Then let’s go.’ She links arms with him again. ‘Worst-case scenario is that Mantua has a ghost who plays “Moonlight Sonata”. How dangerous can she be? I’m starting to agree with Addison that this is a sexism issue. What has the agitator ever done to us except play ambient music and rearrange furniture?’ After a pause, she adds, ‘I know you don’t want to ask Joel for help this agitator season, but the vibe in English lit has been odd. What if—’

‘Carrick wouldn’t help us.’

Sara stops and turns to face him. ‘Don’t be mean. Of course Joel would help us. How about this? Either we ask Joel to help tracking the source of the piano music, or we attend the oath ceremony as Romeo and Juliet?’

‘How are those my options? I choose neither.’

‘Na-ah,’ she shakes her head.

He shoves his hands into his pockets. ‘Fine, but I’m not wearing the stripy tights.’

Sara bounces on his arm and leads them on to 302.