Live and Let Drood

very definitely not in any way disabled,” I said. “Not as long as you can still get your ankles behind your ears like you did last night…”
    “Anyone messes with this car while we’re away, they will find themselves suddenly and violently disabled,” said Molly. “It’s the thought that counts.”
    “Can’t take you anywhere,” I said sadly.
    “You know you love it, really.”
    We left the Phantom V to fend for itself and strolled towards the Pier’s main entrance. Molly surprised me by taking my hand in hers. She’s not usually one for public displays of affection. Presumably she was just trying to blend in. A seagull dive-bombed us, and Molly shot it out of the air with her free hand. When she makes a gun with her hand, she’s not kidding. The seagull plummeted from the sky with feathers flying off it and crashed into the sea. Molly smiled happily. I hurried her through the main entrance and onto the Pier proper.
    “I hope Madame O is still doing business here,” said Molly. “Because if she isn’t, I haven’t a clue where to find her.”
    “We came all this way and you’re not even sure she’s here?” I said.
    “I’m sure! She’s here! Unless she isn’t…”
    “An old friend of yours, this Madame O?” I said, as we promenaded along the Pier, doing our best to look like two more tourists. I was more successful at this than Molly, but then I’ve had training in how to look like nobody in particular. Molly’s never been much of a one for blending in.
    “A friend?” said Molly. “Not…as such.”
    “Oh,” I said. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”
    “Almost certainly. You just keep quiet and let me do all the talking,” said Molly. “And everything will be fine. Just fine. Be ready to dodge and duck, as necessary.”
    “Would it perhaps go better if I was to introduce myself as Shaman Bond?”
    “Wouldn’t work,” Molly said immediately. “She’d spot your torc the moment she set eyes on you and know you for a Drood. She’s the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, which is a lot rarer now in these days of family planning.”
    “So she has the Sight?”
    “Madame O can See things that no one else can See, that aren’t necessarily even there, and have conversations with them,” said Molly.
    “Is she a witch?”
    “Worse,” said Molly, grimacing. “She’s a fortune-teller.”
    We took our time, strolling along the bare wooden boards of the Pier, taking in the sights. I was actually enjoying myself. I’d never been on a pier before. I walked over to the solid steel railings and peered over the side, looking out over the waters and the pebbled beach and the heavy swell of the waves coming in below. The afternoon was definitely over now, with evening settling in, but the sun was still bright and the air was pleasantly warm, interrupted now and then by sharp cool breezes gusting in off the sea. There were still quite a few tourists out and about, families enjoying the remains of the day and getting sucked into all the amenities the Pier had to offer. There were even a handful of retired senior citizens who looked like fixtures, happily reclining in their own personal deck chairs, just sitting back and watching the world go by. If there’d been anywhere to hire a deck chair, I might have joined them. I surprised myself by getting into the whole experience and enjoying it. Molly grinned broadly, enjoying seeing me enjoying myself.
    “You’ve never been on a pier before. Have you, Eddie?”
    “Never been to the seaside before,” I said. “It wasn’t allowed.”
    “You’ve never done this before? Not even when you were a child?”
    “Especially not then. The likes of this wasn’t for young Droods. We were never allowed out of the Hall’s grounds. You have to remember, Molly: Drood children out in the world, beyond the Hall’s protections, were seen as nothing more than kidnap victims waiting to happen. We would be targets for any number of people desperate to get their hands on a Drood torc and Drood secrets. And, of course, a kidnapped child could be used as leverage against us. Besides…the family has alwaysbelieved in keeping its children close; the better to indoctrinate and control them. So holidays were out. Except on television, and all those Enid Blyton books I read as a kid. This…all this, is good. This is fun. I like this!”
    Molly laughed aloud, squeezed my hand and led me down the full length of the Pier, over the dark sea