“For what it’s worth,” said John, “I don’t believe Dante is a schizophrenic like Phoenie insists. He’s never been open to genetic or mental scans but then most people aren’t. He’s got a bit of paranoia in him, sure, but then so is Phoenie, and if she refuses a brain scan then how can she accuse Dante of hiding the truth? Speaking of which…I don’t suppose you’ve had any instances lately where you’ve begun to question whether or not the things you remember are really what actually happened?”

So John was noticing it! He glanced up at his father, who was moving away from the tower and floating towards the ground.

“It’s just that my computer has logs of things I don’t recall happening,” he continued, “That and the defective sensors made me wonder if it was corrupted, but I’ve done a complete reinstall and checked over all the parts – it should be fine! My old man says…”

“Your old man says it’s either mass hypnosis or some kind of nanodrug,” said Mr Smith as he removed devices from his body and folded them into a compact case, “It’s something we’ve been looking into recently and you didn’t ought to worry about. Same goes for you too, Phantasia. Until we know who or what is behind these shenanigans we don’t want you kids getting yourselves involved. Not only could you jeopardise your own safety, but you could disrupt our investigation too,”

A shame then that Phantasia was already involved, but maybe it was better not to let her teacher know that.

***

Finding the Ravens was as easy as always and Phantasia wondered if they ever left their comfort zone of Poe Street. Even after visiting the abode of the social outcasts several times now she still received the occasional odd stare and contemptuous scowl from youths with outfits and hair colours that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a troop of faeries.

Phantasia wasn’t visiting the Ravens for pleasantries, though. She found Joel, Kaori and their friends sitting in a claustrophobic cafe whose walls had been painted purple and covered in graffiti of angels and demons, while the staff were dressed in leather and corsets like they’d been dragged in after a night out. Kaori was the first to great her while Joel dragged a rattling metal chair over to the table the group were huddled around.

“You’re looking as eccentric as usual,” said Byron, leading back on his chair and taking a long drag on his cigarette. For once he wasn’t wearing his trademark fedora and his hair flowed around his shoulders in gentle sweeps and curves. Even the paint on his nails looked fresh as his swirled his drink around.

Doyle, on the other hand, looked as if he’d not slept. His hair was unkempt, his clothes creased and his neck bore prominent bruising he made no attempt to hide. Stranger still was how his attention wasn’t fixated on her as it would normally be.

“You have a good weekend?” asked Kaori, “Did you do anything with Dante last night?”

The boys sniggered and Kaori cast a discerning glare their way.

“Dante’s kinda funny,” said Phantasia, glad the conversation had gotten straight to the point. “I tried getting to know the real him, but he’s determined to keep me at bay!”

“Sounds like Dante all right,” said Joel, “Dude’s been like that so long as I’ve known him.”

Chapter 36
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