Goldsmiths - University of London

"It'll make me happy, okay?" he'd told mum, when she'd still looked like she might say no. "Don't I deserve to be happy for one single weekend?"

She'd sighed, and agreed he could go.

He spent most of the train journey reading: he'd borrowed the school library's musty copy of the Selected Works of Edgar Allen Poe. He'd figured that, if he was going to a pub called the Pit And Pendulum, he should actually read the story it was named after.

It held him gripped, right to the last line. It had the sort of imagery, the sort of thoughts behind it that he loved in heavy metal music, in Goth art sites on the internet. The rats, the slow swing of the pendulum, feeling around in the dark and getting lost and mixed up, the red-hot walls closing in ... the whole thing was just the right mix of clever and spooky and scary.

He finished the story a couple of stations before Nottingham, and sat back, and waited impatiently for the train to finally, finally reach the station. He followed the "Way Out" signs, and found WH Smiths', where Seth had said to wait. He looked at the other people milling around: some men in business suits, a group of skater boys (he avoided catching their eye; skaters hated goths). There was no-one who he thought could be Seth.

He took his rucksack off, and slipped his hand into the side pocket to feel the wolf medallion. Nothing weird had happened for days, and he'd just about managed to convince himself that he'd imagined the whole glowing thing. He'd told himself he wasn't afraid of a little lump of metal, but he'd still felt a tingle up his arms when he reached out to pick up the medallion off the shelf. He needed to bring it, though, to show it to Kay and Seth, to prove that he wasn't just making stuff up about having a real-life item which was an eerily exact match for one in the game.

"Edwin, I presume?"

There was Seth, striding over, pretty much exactly how Edwin would've imagined: he looked cool. His hair was floppy without looking gay, and he was wearing dark cords and a black denim jacket, open over a checked shirt.

"Hey," Edwin said, and found himself feeling suddenly shy and tongue-tied. Did he look sort of dorky, with long black hair and studded bracelets and head-to-toe black?

"Love the hair," Seth said.

The shy feeling faded. Ed had to stop himself grinning: there was no computer screen between him and Seth now, and he didn't want to look pathetically pleased that Seth had complimented him.

"Anyway, car's waiting." Seth led him out of the station to a sleek black car – not a taxi, but an actual car with a driver.

"Did you come all the way from London in here?" Edwin asked, sinking into a really comfy leather seat, and buckling himself in. Seth sat opposite him. There was loads of space in the back of the car, enough to fit five or six people.

"Yep. I'm not keen on trains. Crowded, overheated, full of screaming brats." Seth didn't bother with a seatbelt. Edwin wished he'd not worn his either – he wanted to take it off and explain that it was just habit, drilled into him by his mum, not some stupid obsession with safety. But if Seth hadn't noticed, that'd just draw attention to it.

"So, are things any better with a get-out-free card for school?" Seth asked.

"I'm not bunking off any more."

"Oh?" Seth's eyes locked onto his. It was like being grabbed by a magnet, or caught on the edge of a whirlpool.

"Yeah. Mum found out. Long story ... basically, she was really mad. And I promised her I'd stop, if she let me come this weekend."

"And you wouldn't want to break a promise to your mum."

Edwin realised that he must have sounded like a complete little goody-goody. "Well, not one she'd find out about. I promised I wouldn't drink any alcohol, but, you know, I can, she won't ever know."

Seth smiled, and said, "What she doesn't know won't hurt her, hm? So. What are you doing about those cretins who've been bothering you?"

"Um. Not much. I dunno what I can do." He liked the word cretins, though. It summed them up, and dismissed them. Cretins. He wouldn't use it to their faces, of course. That'd just be asking for a bloody nose.

"Well, don't think about it for now, just enjoy the weekend. We'll get it sorted out."

"Yeah." He was grinning again. We. We'll get it sorted out. Seth actually cared, unlike the teachers. And understood, understood everything, unlike his mum. Seth was the sort of person who could sort things out, who knew exactly what to do.

"We're here," Seth said. Edwin watched him pass a handful of notes to the driver, heard him say, "Keep the change."

"Thank you very much, sir, thank you very much indeed," said the driver; he sounded surprised. Edwin wondered just how rich Seth was, and felt a bit less bad that when he'd explained to Seth a few days ago that he couldn't pay for his share of the hotel room, Seth had just said, "Don't worry about it."

Seth picked up his rucksack. It looked much less battered, and much more expensive, than Edwin's. No-one would dare kick Seth's stuff around, Edwin was sure of that.

"Out you get," Seth said, and Edwin clambered out of the car. "It's just down this street."

They walked past some shops, and the Edwin saw the sign, in a cursive font; "Pit And Pendulum." On either side of the sign, there was a flaming torch; it really did look like something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. He'd only actually read three of the stories in the book so far, but that seemed like plenty to get an idea of the atmosphere.

"Oh wow," he said, "This looks like such an awesome pub!"

"I rather thought you'd like it."

The windows were full of old-fashioned jars and bottles, like some sort of ancient chemists' shop. Outside, a blackboard had "Seven Deadly Sins" written on it, and a list of the sins, along with things like "grenadine, orange juice, lime juice".

"They're cocktails," Seth said, pushing the door open and gesturing Edwin inside. Edwin ducked under his arm, walked into the pub. It was even cooler in here, dark and decorated with skulls and dusty bottles and things which looked like rusted old weapons.

"Downstairs," Seth said, "We can get a nice quiet booth there."

There were mirrors lining the stairs, and a very cool, huge chair with carved arms and red velvet cushions. Edwin looked at him and Seth in the mirror as they walked down; his head only came up to Seth's shoulder, and Seth looked – well, he looked good, just normal and cool with it. He wasn't sure about his own look. Was he properly Goth? Did the new bracelet seem like he was trying a bit too hard? But any less, and he'd just've looked like he was keen on black.

"There, that one will do nicely," Seth said, and led him to a table in the corner; it was in a booth, with walls going right up to the ceiling. There was a long bench at the back of it, with dark red leather and arched seat-backs in gothic points. Above the bench, the wall was stone and had a couple of metal rings dangling from it. Edwin stood on the bench to take a closer look.

"Handcuffs," Seth said.

"Cool!" He took off his rucksack, put it at the end of the bench, sat down.

"What do you want to drink? I'm buying. One of the Sins?"

"Um." He felt he should make at least a token gesture towards keeping his promise to his mum. And it wasn't even lunchtime yet, and though he wouldn't tell Seth or any of them, he really didn't drink often. He'd had a couple of Bacardi Breezers at a barbeque in the summer, round his friend Adam's house, and sometimes mum would let him have a glass of wine when they went on holiday with his cousins, but that was pretty much it. "Maybe just a coke?"

Seth's eyebrows went up, slightly.

Edwin didn't want to look like a complete wuss. Especially after he'd told Seth in the car that he'd drink alcohol. "Um, I mean, a coke and vodka."

"As opposed to a vodka and coke?"

He wasn't sure if Seth was teasing him.

"Yeah, um, whichever."

"Good good. We'll start on the cocktails once everyone's here."

Seth left his rucksack and went off to the bar. Edwin noticed the table; in the centre, there was a clear panel – plastic, he thought, not glass – and beneath it there were various gothic objects, like a pentagram on a chain, and a letter printed in an unreadable handwriting font, and an envelope with a wax-stamped seal.

"Here you go," Seth said, and handed him his drink. Edwin sipped at it, slowly. He sometimes snuck a little bit of vodka into his coke at home, it looked perfectly innocent, so mum never knew. Seth was drinking red wine. He sat down, then peered across the pub and said, "Aha."

Edwin followed his gaze. There was a guy wearing a t-shirt that looked like two half t-shirts stitched down the middle: pretty cool, Edwin thought, he'd have to try that some time. There was a girl too ... and he was pretty much sure she was Kay. He found himself wanting to look at her and not wanting to look at her all at once. She was wearing jeans and a really pretty blouse and she had long brown hair tied in a plait down her back.

He swallowed a couple of big mouthfuls of his vodka and coke and said, "I reckon that's Kay, and thingy."

"Brandon, I believe his name is. And yes, I'm sure you're right." Seth paused. "They've seen us."

Edwin sort of glanced up through his hair, without lifting his head too much, and saw that Kay was waving. She and Brandon came over.

"Hey! Seth and Ed, right?" Kay said, and grinned at them. "Good to meet you!" she said to Edwin, who couldn't think what to do except stand up and say "Um, hi."

She hugged him. He really hadn't expected that. Girls never hugged him, and if his mum or grandma tried to, he'd just squirm away. But it felt good, really good, to have someone's arms around him. She was about the same height as him. He could smell her perfume.

And then she let go of him and leaned across the table to shake Seth's proffered hand. "Hey. Oh, and this is Brandon."

Edwin looked at Brandon, who wasn't paying them much attention, but was busy staring at the big chair at one corner of the table. Admiring the carved pattern, maybe.

"Anyway," Kay said, "I'm going to grab a drink. Brandon, do you want a coke?"

Brandon said, "Yep," but didn't turn round. Edwin watched him trace the spiral pattern round the arm of the chair, back and forwards in loops, twisting up the back of it. He sat back down, and watched Kay as she walked away to the bar, watched the way her plait swung slightly as she turned her head. It seemed more than natural, inevitable, that his eyes wound down to the base of her plait and then further, to her bottom, curved in jeans.

"Enjoying the view?" Seth asked, amusement in his voice. Edwin jolted back from the beginnings of a daydream, and felt his face getting hot. How could she do that to him? It felt almost deliberate, personal. He reached for his vodka and coke, swallowed a bit too fast.

"You like her, then?" Seth asked, quietly.

"No. I mean, I do. Not like that." He didn't know what to say, where to look, except at the table, with the odd things under the glass panel, and deep scratch marks in the wood, and old ringed stains from where glasses had sat over the years.

"Mm-hm," Seth said. "Brandon. Are you going to join us? I doubt the chair will be especially communicative."

Brandon turned round, shrugged his shoulders, stopped examining the chair and sat on it instead. Edwin was relieved that Seth hadn't gone on and on about Kay. The guys at school would've. But they were really immature, stupid. Seth wasn't like that. Seth wouldn't tease him about looking at a girl or anything. And Edwin had hardly been looking looking, he'd just happened to have his eyes pointing in her general direction.

"This is cool, isn't it?" he said, to Brandon, because like Brandon, he thought the decorations and furnishings were pretty awesome. "This pub, it's ... cool."

Brandon looked at him. And kept looking at him, without saying anything, almost without blinking.

Edwin glanced at Seth, feeling suddenly uncertain. There was something unsettling about Brandon, something in his gaze which suggested that Edwin was about as significant to him as the chair, or the shelves of skulls dotted around the pub.

Seth gave the minutest of shrugs.

At last, Brandon said, "Why do you wear so much black?"

"Um, I'm a Goth." He held up his arms by way of explanation, showing off the long black leather bracelets wound multiple times around his forearms, metal studs shining out.

"Why?"

"Well, I ... it's just who I am." He was starting to feel sort of annoyed. Brandon wasn't asking questions in a confrontational way, not like the idiots at school ("Oi, why're you so gay?" "What's wrong with you, freak?") but it was making him feel defensive. "Why do you wear a t-shirt cut in two?"

Brandon looked down at his t-shirt, as though seeing it for the first time, then looked back at Edwin. "Why not?"

"Well, most people don't," Edwin said. He knew it was a bit lame – most people didn't wear head-to-toe black and studded leather bracelets, either.

"I'm not like most people," Brandon said.

"That's rather self-evident," Seth said, as Kay came back with drinks. She handed Brandon a coke, and sat down next to Edwin, on the end of the bench.

Edwin's mind went completely blank, and he couldn't think what to say to her, except a pathetic, "Hi." So it was much to his relief when Seth said, "Ah, Mark and Hannah, I believe. And they appear to have found the bar."

There were more greetings; Kay hugging them both, Edwin getting a hug from Hannah, which made him feel considerably less awkward than the hug from Kay had done. Was that because he'd been hugged already, or because Hannah was nearer his mum's age? Mark sat on the end of the bench further from Edwin, on the other side of Seth. Hannah took a chair next to him.

"So, we're just missing Louisa?" Hannah asked. There was a bit of a wobble in her voice, Edwin noticed, just before she said Louisa.

Before anyone answered, though, Mark leant forwards, leaning across the table to see round Seth and Edwin and said to Kay, "I can't believe you're Sir Tristram. Seriously, you scare the hell out of Roddy in game." He had a flat, northern accent, like Edwin's uncle, even a bit like his mum when she got stressy and lost the round posh voice that made her fit in with the other parents at his school.

"I don't go around terrorising not-so-innocent thieves in real life," Kay said. Edwin thought from her voice that she was probably smiling, but he couldn't look at her without turning completely sideways, and then it would be obvious that he was looking at her.

Opposite them, Brandon looked up from a giant textbook. Edwin couldn't even figure out what the words on the cover meant; he didn't like to guess at how complicated it must be inside. "I eat her food," he said.

Edwin was trying to puzzle this out when Mark caught his eye.

"What do you reckon, Edwin? Can you imagine her keeping a bunch of rowdy knights and squires in line?"

"Dunno," he said, then to Kay, "Maybe you're more like your warrior woman, Nancy, isn't it?"

There were laughs to that, and some head-shaking from Kay, "No, no no no. She's psycho, she really is. Well, maybe she's my mad drunk crazy side."

The thought of Kay's "mad drunk crazy side" made Edwin feel sort of hot, his arms itchy and sweaty under the wrapped leather bracelets. He finished his drink, and the icy-coldness helped.

"I remember poor Griffin getting on the wrong side of her," said Hannah. "Gosh, coming here and meeting you all makes me really miss it."

"Then come back," Seth said. He was looking at Hannah; she dropped her eyes quickly.

"I've got a confession to make," she said, "The newbie, Dora? She's mine."

Edwin was a bit surprised, but not hugely; most new characters turned out to be some existing player who'd gotton bored of their usual roleplaying. Mark said, "I didn't know."

"What, when you were flirting with me in game? No, I thought you didn't." There was something sharp in her voice, sharp and upset. It made Edwin feel really awkward, like the time he'd sat on the landing and listened to mum crying in the front room to Aunty Janet.

"Um, hi," said a fat woman in a dark blue top. She was clutching a drink as though it was some sort of protection. "Um, Lycopolis?"

"We are indeed," said Seth. "You must be Louisa."

Kay got up and hugged her but, Edwin noticed, Hannah didn't even look round, and just said, "Now everyone's here, shall we order some food?"