Keeping it Real by Annie Dalton Read Free Book Online Page B

space, ohh - it’s PURE magic.
    As the night went on I was amazed to see some of the human dancers picking up on our dance style. At times the DJ actually seemed to sense our vibes. “I’m feeling some sweet energy in the house tonight,” he kept saying. “You Park Hall people must have serious auras. Yeah man, there’s enough lies and illusion in this world, but you guys are still keeping it real.”
    “We’re trying, Justice, we’re trying,” yelled one of the earth angels, and the entire angel contingent cheered!
    At that moment I wouldn’t have swapped with the old Mel Beeby for anything. Even Brice appeared to be having a good time.
    But this was Park Hall, so obviously it couldn’t last.

Chapter Seven
    A round two in the morning, Jools and Hendrix got a call - a gang fight with suspiciously high levels of PODS interest
    I was up for anything by this time. Just as well, because we were in for one of Jools’ white knuckle drives. We bombed over speed bumps, taking interesting short cuts which definitely weren’t in the London A to Z.
    At last we drove into a dead end behind some council flats.
    There’s a thing our Dark Studies teacher calls ‘miasma’: a sticky dark aura which collects wherever Dark agents gather together.
    “Your bad boys have an audience,” Brice said grimly.
    “How big?” Hendrix asked.
    “Hard to tell - they’re kind of overexcited so they keep changing shape.” Brice was using what me and Lola call his ‘Dark radar’, a disturbing ability to detect Dark agents even when, like now, they weren’t in human disguise.
    As we pulled up, there was another shock. The call centre hadn’t thought to mention that this was a girl fight.
    I couldn’t tell how many girls were milling about. There was only one streetlight and that was on the blink. You just caught dramatic glimpses - a gold hoop glinting in an earlobe, a sneery mouth, a flash of designer trainers. Smashed cider bottles littered the ground; some gang members had been doing some serious underage drinking.
    I just didn’t get why the PODS were watching. This kind of teen ruck is a depressingly routine event in my neighbourhood, yet the local Dark entities had not only got wind of it before it started, they’d turned out in the snow to get a ringside seat!
    “They’re not moving in on the girls?” Jools asked Brice.
    He shook his head. “Just perving on the hate vibes.”
    “Let’s keep it that way, guys,” she said. “Boost your light levels everyone - and good luck!”
    It turned out we’d arrived just as things were hotting up. As we piled out of the people carrier, a girl hurled herself at another girl from the rival gang, bringing her crashing to the ground with a shriek of rage.
    The girls rolled around in the slush, grunting with effort as they grabbed at each other’s earrings and tried to rip out clumps of hair, while invisible beings from rival cosmic agencies watched.
    According to our Dark Studies teachers, the safest technique for clearing Dark entities from the area is to raise the vibes. Sounds hippy dippy, doesn’t it? Like we hold hands in a circle and chant?
    What we actually do is beam incredibly high-octane angel vibes from the palms of our hands.
    Raising vibes in the middle of a gang fight is like trying to meditate in a tsunami. You get a peaceful little vibe going and DOOF! A wave of pure cold evil knocks you over and you have to struggle all the way back to shore.
    Brice couldn’t be fussed with all that, he just went over and started knocking the sassafras out of the PODS, and after a while Hendrix went to help him out.
    The first girl had managed to kick her opponent away. Breathing fast, she scrambled to her feet and immediately put up her fists. “Anyone who disses my girls is going to have to kiss these!” she screamed.
    The girl started a jittery war dance, aiming fake punches with a bit of kickboxing thrown in. In the strobing lamplight, she didn’t seem human; she was just