They’d paid for the night in the campsite but Teagan said there was absolutely no way she was going to sleep there tonight so Joss gave the rest of their milk to a young family then climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

Teagan was wearing Joss’s jacket, as if it was a layer of protection; someone else’s borrowed armour. But the truth turned out to be that Kenzie was a better suit of armour than any leather jacket; the ghosts that had been grabbing at her and crying for attention drew back when they noticed Kenzie behind Teagan’s eyes. Kenzie snarled at them to leave her cousin alone, and to greater or lesser extents they listened, and kept their distance.

... )
Joss still wasn’t sleeping much and this was a problem.

Teagan slept loads. Teagan was out for eight or nine hours at a time. Teagan was asleep every night, as well as the occasional nap during the day. There were nights Joss only got to sleep before dawn, and as soon as Teagan woke up she accidentally woke him up too. She couldn’t help it – they were sleeping in a van.

... )
A few days after Stonehenge, Kenzie had taken the driving seat in Teagan’s mind and was speaking to Joss. Teagan let her, practising the talent of keeping her mind quiet, her body relaxed, so that Kenzie could, for want of a better word, drive. It was a windy day in Bristol where they’d decided to stop for a while and check out the city. Today Joss had found a pirate tour of Blackbeard’s (supposed) early life, and they were following the piratically dressed guide around the town, holding hands at the back of the tour, and giggling to each other.

Teagan found it impossible to quiet her mind completely, though. She felt every move Kenzie made with her body, felt her feet hit the ground, felt the movement in her hips and her shoulders and the tension in her back and her stomach and felt the turn of her neck and heard the sounds of her own voice coming out – and every time Kenzie spoke Teagan felt the urge to close her mouth, not because of the things she was saying, but simply because she wasn’t used to her own voice coming out of her own mouth without her knowledge.

... )
Teagan woke with a startled shudder, her whole body flushed with warmth.

She did not move, taking a moment of stillness to settle in to where she was. In the van, yes, in the middle of the night, and in Cornwall, somewhere. Rain was pouring down the windows, and outside the van it was pitch black. She was curled into her sleeping bag, her face close to the wheel of the van, her back to Joss, who was reading to torchlight.

... )
They left in the summer, at the end of July.

They left London the day after Joss had slept with Teagan, who was also Kenzie. The day Flick and Matt had almost exorcised Kenzie for good (almost murdered her a second time). They left town after rushed and hungover packing at both of their houses, after a stop at the storage unit to take Kenzie’s van.

Teagan left her family without saying goodbye. She didn’t consider how long she might be gone, or how much damage her leaving might cause. So she didn’t leave a note. She didn’t respond to April’s text demanding what had happened in her bed the night before. Teagan winced at the memory, embarrassed. She did wish it hadn’t happened in April’s bed.
... )

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Darker London

October 2014

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