Chapter Thirty-Two #2
‘This isn’t going to work,’ said Chloe with a groan. She quickly read the character’s last line in silence, committing it to memory. She was going to need both hands for this. She glanced around the chapel building. There didn’t seem to be anywhere they could climb. No ladder or anything.
‘What about Gwen?’ Harry asked suddenly.
‘What about her?’ Chloe asked with some irritation. ‘She can’t climb, either.’
‘No, no.’ Harry sounded amused. ‘I mean the superhero in the pub. If she tells him there’s a cat stuck on a roof—’
‘He’ll come and save him,’ Chloe finished his sentence, and a smile grew on her face. ‘That just might work.’
‘Superhero?’ Mrs Cook asked. Harry explained while Chloe pulled out her phone. She texted Gwen, but she wasn’t seeing the message.
The cat on the roof started singing, his voice so shrill that he’d surely attract people at any moment.
‘ On the roof, I sit so high,
Watching the humans shout, oh my!
They try to climb, they try to leap,
But catching this cat is no small feat! ’
If anyone came running and saw him, she didn’t know how they could explain it. Chloe quickly called Gwen, hoping her sister would hear her phone ring in the noisy pub.
‘Chloe?’ Gwen answered. The background noise was people laughing and the buzz of the TV .
‘Hi, Gwen. Are you still with him?’
‘Well, yes. I’m sitting with him, but those girls are here, too.’ Chloe heard her sniff in annoyance. ‘They seem to think I’m, um . . .’ she whispered, ‘trying to steal him.’
‘ Wave goodbye and tip your hat,
There’s no way you’ll catch this cat! ’
Chloe covered her free ear, thoroughly annoyed now. ‘Steal him from whom? Look, you need to get him over here,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a character stuck on the chapel roof and only he can get him. Can you tell him it’s an emergency?’
‘You’re from where ?’ asked a woman in the background, unnaturally loud and with her words slurring. ‘That isn’t a real city.’ Giggling erupted from behind Gwen.
‘Gwen, this is your time to shine,’ said Chloe fiercely. ‘We’re at the chapel. The one where . . . you know, on Baker Street. Tell him someone needs his help – right now!’
‘Okay. Yes. I can do this.’ An uncomfortable silence rang between them, broken by the sound of shattering glass. Gwen cursed. ‘I’ll get him there as quickly as I can.’
The phone cut off, and Chloe glanced upwards again.
She could see the tip of the naughty cat’s hat.
Clearly, he was having a good time basking in his mischief and singing with his terrible voice.
Unsure whether Gwen would be able to deliver on her promise, Chloe glanced inside the chapel.
The door was open but there was nobody there.
Loud thumps on the roof told them the cat was on the move.
‘Hurry up, Gwen,’ Chloe murmured. The inside of the chapel was cobwebby and old.
Did anyone even still use it any more, or had it been abandoned to the elements?
Wooden benches stood in rows, an aisle leading to a dais.
Did it used to get decorated with flowers?
Did they hold funerals here once, or celebrate christenings and weddings? It was deserted now.
Harry had followed her inside, his presence like a warm blanket.
Chloe glanced around sadly, the memories coming back: discussing colours and flowers with the wedding planner, imagining herself walking down the aisle, picking out the perfect dress.
The many awkward phone calls to tell people the wedding was off.
The nights of crying herself to sleep, the bitterness when Gwen discarded Liam almost at once, jetting off with her millionaire without a word of apology.
Harry’s arms wrapped around her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder. ‘Are you all right?’
There was so much promise in that simple question.
‘Yeah. Just, you know, memories. I was supposed to marry Liam here.’ She turned to face him.
She was painfully aware of the ticking clock, that they still had more characters to find, but with the sun shining through the stained-glass windows, the soft sound of tweeting birds outside and Harry’s arms around her waist, it was easy to not care.
Just for a moment. ‘I want to make new memories here in Wellbridge. With you.’
The words left her mouth of their own accord, but she knew them to be true. Wellbridge felt more like home than the city ever did. ‘I love my job. Even with days like these.’
‘You don’t get much of that in an office.’ Harry’s brown eyes crinkled as they roamed her face, making her feel like he had peeled back her cover and was reading her every thought. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.
It felt right. Like home.
He softly kissed her back, holding her close.
A swooshing sound outside made her jump, and the doors burst open. A silhouette of a man in a superhero suit stood in the doorway, his cape flowing behind him. He held a woman in his arms.
‘Gwen!’ Chloe said, half shocked, half annoyed. ‘You let him carry you here?’
‘He insisted.’ Gwen was blushing as the superhero gently set her down.
Chloe looked him over and groaned. ‘How many people saw you?’
‘It isn’t my fault,’ Gwen insisted. ‘I did as you said and told him that someone at the chapel needs his help. Right?’ she asked. The superhero, who had discarded his glasses and suit, stood with his fists on his hips, looking around in expectation.
‘What’s going on here? How can I help? Are there burglars here? Bad guys?’ He glanced around.
‘Not quite. There’s a cat, um, stuck on the roof.’
‘Clementine?’ asked Gwen, looking stricken.
‘A bit bigger than him.’ As though to prove her point, sharp thuds on the roof indicated the cat was still running around up there. ‘Could you get him down? He might fight back, but . . .’
‘Truth and justice.’ The superhero rose into the air, his cape flowing behind him. Despite expecting it, Chloe watched in awe. It wasn’t every day you saw someone flying. Outside the library, it looked even stranger.
‘Oh, well done, Gwen!’ Mrs Cook clapped her hands as the superhero floated above to the chapel roof.
They all watched each other, listening as the cat screamed, then shot off some mischievous poems about tights and capes.
The superhero said something, there was a terrific bang, and suddenly he was flying back down, the cat thrashing in his arms.
‘No chance, mate,’ Harry remarked as the superhero landed between them all. ‘He’s much stronger than you are.’
‘Eric, hold down this arm. Harry, you hold the other,’ said Chloe. ‘Um, sir, could you cover his mouth?’
The cat was making a racket, his screeches bouncing off the chapel grounds. It sounded like several cats were being terrorised.
‘I do not remember him being this bad in the book,’ Chloe grumbled as the three men wrestled him. As soon as they had him trapped, Chloe quickly recited the last character’s line in the book, as close as she could get to the cat’s pointed ear.
The cat faded and the superhero was suddenly standing alone, looking pleased with himself. ‘Another successful mission.’
‘Thank you for your help,’ said Chloe, grateful. Eric was already handing her the comic book. ‘It’s time to send you back, too.’
‘Even though those girls were very interested in you,’ said Gwen slyly. She looked the superhero up and down. ‘Aw, do we have to put him back right now? He could help us catch the others.’
Chloe gave her a pointed look. ‘We have to. I’m sorry,’ she added, looking at him. ‘You’re just too conspicuous. How many people saw you flying here? How are we going to explain that?’
‘Maybe they’ll think he was a bird or a plane,’ said Mrs Cook.
Chloe snorted. ‘Thank you for your help, but it’s time to get home.’ She found the final page of the comic. ‘Say goodbye, Gwen.’
Pouting, Gwen waved at the handsome superhero, who saluted back with a grin. Chloe read out the final page of the comic book and he disappeared into nothing, leaving them alone in the chapel grounds.
Chloe released a breath as the comic book’s glow faded. ‘Three down, two to go.’