by Lizzie Rose
‘Why did they do that?’ I turned back to the table and realised that Noah was standing up, his jaw set and his fists clenched as he watched Beth placing bits of broken crockery on to the tray.
‘Because she’s friends with us,’ Oscar said in a disgusted tone. ‘There’s a big divide between the Nexes and the Duds. Beth is a Dud like me but we don’t have a problem with the Nexes, which as far as that bunch of idiots is concerned makes us Nexes anyway. Don’t worry, we’re used to it. Noah, sit down, don’t make things worse.’
At that moment, the diner door opened again and Marcus walked in, followed by two men in uniform. Noah sat down immediately and pushed the rest of his food away in disgust.
‘Everything all right, Dale?’ Marcus called out. The middle-aged man looked up as he carried a replenished tray across to the table.
‘Wonderful,’ he replied sarcastically, slamming the plates down in front of the youths. ‘Is there something I can do for you?’
‘Oh no, just checking everything’s ok,’ Marcus replied airily, waving a hand in the air, ‘the usual.’ He looked slowly around at all the tables, his eyes coming to rest on me.
He smiled and strode over, watched carefully by the uniformed men. ‘How’s everyone doing?’
Noah opened his mouth to answer then winced and quickly shut it again.
‘We’re fine, thank you,’ Oscar replied politely.
‘Good, good. Kids should be allowed to enjoy themselves a bit at the weekend, I reckon. And how are you, Ava?’
The entire table tensed.
‘I’m fine thank you,’ I replied.
‘That’s great news! I bet you’re a bit sore though, aren’t you?’
‘A little but it’s getting much better.’
Marcus nodded his head slightly. ‘Well that’s good to hear. I guess those powers of yours must come in handy at times like this. Are you settling in ok? Getting to know everyone?’
‘Yes thank you.’ I was trying to read his expression but it was difficult. He was smiling but he looked reserved at the same time.
‘And have you been enrolled at the college yet?’ he asked.
‘Have I what?’ I looked over at Oscar in alarm. He was looking at Marcus but he shook his head a fraction.
‘Brock is making enquiries,’ he answered for me.
I knew my face was reflecting the horror I felt inside but couldn’t do anything about it. College? What on earth are they thinking?
‘I’m sure you’ll fit in fine.’ Marcus was speaking to me again. ‘Be sure to let me know if there’s anything you’re worried about.’ I tried to focus and nod to show I understood but my body wouldn’t function. Apparently it wasn’t necessary as Marcus gave a little wave and began to walk away. But then he paused and looked back at us. ‘By the way, be careful when you’re going home, won’t you? Make sure everyone’s got lifts. There have been reports of a wild animal hanging about – some sort of big cat. I’m sure it’s nothing but just to be on the safe side . . . take care guys.’
Stunned, I looked down at the rest of my meal but my appetite had gone. The rest of my group seemed to have come to the same conclusion and a few minutes later they were gathering their belongings together. I excused myself and headed for the bathroom. Splashing my face with cold water helped bring me back to my senses a little.
The others were waiting outside in the car park when I came out. As I reached the door someone stepped in and blocked my way. Taking a step back I recognised Tariq, Connor’s friend. He was leaning against the door with his arms folded and his head tilted to one side as he watched me with unblinking eyes.
‘So you’re Ava.’ Connor was standing right behind me. Nathaniel and the two girls were watching from the booth with stony expressions on their faces. ‘You run really fast!’ Connor laughed and the boys joined in. The memory of sitting in the bus shelter, looking up into his face whilst his friends banged their fists against the glass made my stomach flip. I turned to leave but Tariq held his ground.
‘Maybe next time you could warn us that you’re an Olympic athlete,’ Connor mocked from behind me.
‘Maybe next time you’ll let me know that you’re trying to keep up and I’ll slow down for you,’ I retorted.
A snort of laughter came from behind me. Noah and Tariq squared up to each other, their faces centimetres apart.
‘You want to be careful, you know,’ Connor spat, his eyes on Oscar. ‘You’re getting close to curfew. Wouldn’t want any of you freak babies out after hours now would we?’
His lips pressed into a thin line, Oscar turned his face away from Connor and looked at me. ‘Are you ready to go?’
I nodded.
‘See you around,’ Connor winked.
*
Brock and Esther were watching TV in the lounge when I got in. They looked at me in alarm when they saw my expression.
‘Has something happened?’ Brock sat up straight in his chair.
‘Connor happened.’ I scowled, slumping down on to the sofa. ‘And Marcus happened too. He said I have to go to college. Is that true?’
Brock shifted uncomfortably. ‘I was going to talk to you about that.’
‘So it’s true.’
‘Yes it is. One of the government’s rules is that all under eighteens must be in full-time education or a work apprenticeship. There aren’t many apprenticeships about so most of the kids go down the education route.’
‘But what about my powers? What about the fact that I’m not used to being around people? I might lose control.’
‘You won’t,’ Brock assured me. ‘You’ll be absolutely fine. The others will look after you and don’t forget that you’re not the only one with powers. You’ll just have to be careful to avoid conflict whilst you’re there. You’ve got a couple of weeks of holiday left before you have to start so try not to worry too much about it.’
‘Is there no way around it?’ I thought briefly about running away with my panther. Brock winced, making me feel guilty. ‘I don’t want to go, not really. It’s just . . . college?’
‘Ava, I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I thought for a minute that you couldn’t cope. Being around other young people will be good for you. Will you give it a try?’
‘I suppose so. At least Oscar will be there.’
‘No he won’t, he’s eighteen so he doesn’t go to college but Noah and Kenzie do. I’m sure you’ll soon make some new friends too.’
‘Ok, but don’t blame me if things go wrong. I just don’t understand teenagers.’
‘Neither do we,’ Brock chortled, ‘so don’t worry about it.’
Chapter Seven
To add to my misery, the nightmares returned with a vengeance. Whilst Brock and Esther were very understanding and sympathetic, it was obviously causing them stress. When I came down to breakfast one morning I found them deep in conversation which stopped abruptly when they realised I was there.
‘Is everything all right?’
‘Everything’s fine,’ Esther reassured me, although her expression remained serious.
‘We were just talking about the weekend, Ava.’ Brock shrugged at Esther who scowled at him. ‘We were planning to go and see Esther’s mother who lives a little way up north. The plan was to go up on Friday afternoon and come back Saturday night but she only has one spare room. We’ve just been debating what to do and we’ve come to the conclusion that we should probably cancel and arrange to go another time.’
‘I don’t want you to do that, not on my account.’
‘Well, that’s very kind of you,’ Esther replied, ‘but it wouldn’t be fair to take you and make you sleep on the sofa. We could speak to Gwen or Gran and see if you could stay with one of them I suppose.’
‘Can’t I stay here?’
‘By yourself?’ Brock frowned.
‘If you would feel happier with me staying somewhere else that’s fine but I’d like to try. Please?’
They exchanged a glance. ‘Well, the thing is we
really aren’t supposed to leave you alone, what with us being your guardians. But I suppose it’s just for one night and as long as you stayed inside then no one would know. Right Esther?’
‘Ok,’ she held her hands up in defeat, ‘just for one night.’
*
When Friday arrived I stood on the doorstep waving them off and, as soon as the car had disappeared from view, I skipped into the house and raided the cupboards. Settling down on the sofa I surrounded myself with packets of food, put a movie on the TV, and propped several cookery books up on cushions. It was wonderful. At least it was for an hour or so, but after that I began to feel sick from eating too much junk, the movie didn’t make any sense, and I grew tired of reading. Unable to stand it any longer, I switched everything off, tidied up and headed up to bed.
*
Stretching my tiny hands up as high as I could reach, I craned my neck to look up into the darkness. The trees here were tall and grew so close together that it seemed as though it were night-time, with just the occasional spear of light falling to the ground. The feathery leaves tickled my fingertips and a light breeze caressed the skin at the back of my neck. Despite the lack of light, he moved with confidence. Bending low, I nestled my cheek against his silky hair. A soft glow shone ahead of us. As we moved forwards, the ancient gnarled tree trunks became visible, their branches interwoven as though they were holding hands. I sat up straight so suddenly that his hands tightened around my knees, holding me steady. The ground was sloping gently downhill now, then suddenly the trees disappeared.
Sunlight streamed down to greet us, making us shade our eyes with our hands. We were standing at the top of a sloping, oval shaped clearing. Below us, several large boulders stood proudly amongst the grass and wild flowers.
‘Can we?’ I bent low to whisper in his ear.
‘Oh, I don’t know about that. Your mother’s waiting . . .’
‘Pleeeeaaaasssseee!’
He chuckled. His warm, strong hands moved and hooked underneath my armpits, swinging me up and over his head and then setting me down on solid ground. The grass was so long it came up to my middle.
‘Are you ready? Ok, one, two . . .’ he turned his back on me and placed his hands over his eyes. A loud giggle escaped me as I ran down the hill, treading so lightly that the grass barely moved. On reaching the largest boulder, I scrambled behind it, dropping down on to all fours.
‘Eight – nine – ten. Here I come . . .’
Stuffing a fist in my mouth to stop myself making a noise, I peeked around the side of the boulder. He was standing in the same place, scratching his head with a confused look on his face. His eyes swept past my hiding place and the corners of his mouth twitched. Turning away from me, he set off down the edge of the clearing, taking exaggerated steps and springing around some of the smaller boulders as though to catch me by surprise. When he had exhausted all other possibilities he shook his head and turned in my direction. He had covered about half the distance when he suddenly stopped. He was staring at something I couldn’t see. Thinking this was part of the game I edged forward. He spun around to face me, his eyes wide.
‘Stay where you are. Whatever happens, do not show yourself. Do you understand?’
He looked as though he were about to say something else but then his head snapped back to the spot he had been looking at and he began to walk slowly backwards.
A line of figures dressed in strange dark fabric which flowed from the tops of their heads to their feet were walking towards him, matching their pace with his. When he was almost at the top of the hill, he stopped and they halted too. One of them stepped forwards and spoke. The conversation became heated. He had never looked so angry before and that scared me more than anything else. Their voices echoed around the clearing and then there was a flash of bright blue. One of the figures threw something that looked like a rope up into the air. It snaked towards him and as it made contact he let out a blood curdling scream, making me jump so hard that I scraped my legs against the boulder. Barely registering the pain I ran up the hill.
‘Leave him alone!’
The words came out in the tiniest of whispers and yet as soon as they had left my lips the figures turned towards me, their faces hidden behind long hoods.
‘What is this?’ The raspy voice filled the silence. The one who had spoken studied me. His hood had slipped back slightly revealing an oval face, gleaming eyes and thin, pale lips. ‘Well, well, well, you have been keeping secrets, haven’t you?’
‘Leave my father alone,’ I shouted, sounding far more confident than I felt.
‘Your father?’ He snorted with laughter.
I took a step towards them. The leader tilted his head, watching me intently.
‘Ava,’ Father gasped, ‘you must run. Please!’
The leader lifted his hand in a signal to the one holding the rope. I put my hands on my hips and scowled.
‘Don’t do that,’ I warned, ‘don’t you hurt him.’
The hand fell; the rope jumped up in the air, then curled around Father’s chest.
Several things happened at once.
Father and I both screamed at the same time, my hands balled into fists, and there was a flash of violet light. Where the one holding the rope had stood there was now nothing more than a shower of dust falling through the air.
The scene changed and I was standing near a bed.
‘You killed her, Ava,’ a voice said from behind me. ‘She’s dead and it’s all your fault. Murderer!’
There was something under the covers. I didn’t want to see what it was but my feet were moving of their own accord, taking me closer to it. The sheet billowed out as though there were a breeze in the room. Then it disappeared and I was looking into a face I knew very well.
‘Help me!’ she croaked. ‘Ava, help me!’
‘I’m trying,’ I called back, ‘but I can’t reach you, Mother.’
But it wasn’t Mother any more, it was my father. He looked at me with such anguish it made my heart ache. And then it was Brock, his eyes full of fear. Then Esther and then Hugo; Brogan; baby Elianna and then it changed again.
*
I was screaming like I had never screamed before. The image was still there in my mind. Stumbling out of the room and down the stairs, I tried to get out of the door but it refused to move so I wrenched it out of its frame and flung myself out into the street. My bare feet slapped against the cold surface of the road as I ran.
The building was in darkness when I arrived. Racing around to the back I found the right window and prised it open, leaving a sizeable gap. Shifting my hands on to the edge of the frame, I jumped up lightly. For a moment I held myself in a perfectly straight line, my toes pointed and my arms taking my weight. But then my feet suddenly lurched upwards and all of a sudden I was pointing downwards and sliding headfirst at speed. Landing on the floor with a loud thud, I cursed under my breath. When all remained quiet I crawled across the room, curled up on the floor and closed my eyes.
‘Ava? What the hell are you doing?’
There was a movement above me and Oscar’s head appeared over the edge of the bed.
‘I thought you were asleep,’ I whispered.
‘Well, I was until someone broke into my room. Are you ok?’
‘Yes. Actually, no. Can I stay here tonight? Please?’
‘What’s happened?’
‘I had a nightmare.’
He pulled the covers away from the edge of the bed and patted the mattress. ‘Come on then.’
‘Oh, I didn’t mean . . . I don’t expect you to . . .’
‘I’m not going to let you stay on the floor, am I?’ he whispered back. ‘Either we share or I’ll go sleep on the sofa. The spare room’s not made up.’
Feeling excruciatingly embarrassed I pulled myself up and climbed into the bed as Oscar shuffled over to the far edge.
‘Jeez, you’re freezing. Are you ok?’
My teeth were chattering too hard to reply.
>
‘It’s ok, come here.’ He pulled me around so that I was facing him then snuggled me against his chest, pulling the duvet right up to my chin. As the shivering calmed down he kissed the top of my head lightly. It felt nice. His breathing soothed me and I felt myself relax into sleep.
*
I was totally disorientated the next morning. The duvet on the bed had a dark blue cover on it and the clothes strewn on the floor were definitely not mine. Then it came back to me. Gasping I turned over in bed but it was empty. With a sense of foreboding, I forced myself to get up and crept out into the hallway.
The sounds of pots and pans being moved mingled with voices. Chewing my fingernail nervously I peeped around the corner into the kitchen. Gran was busy at the stove, turning rashers of bacon over in a frying pan with one hand whilst stirring the contents of a second pan with the other. Gramps was sitting at the table, his head buried in a newspaper. Oscar’s voice floated through from the lounge area.
‘Come on, Skye . . . don’t be daft, it wasn’t like that . . . she just needed somewhere to stay . . . she was scared . . .’
Not wanting to hear any more, I crept into the kitchen and sat down quietly at the table.
‘Morning,’ Gramps boomed, winking at me cheerily over the top of his paper. Hearing him speak, Gran turned around and I was relieved to see that she was smiling.
‘Hey, you’re awake!’ Oscar strode into the room, tucking a small telephone into his pocket. ‘Sleep well?’ he grinned broadly and winked at me.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.’
He sat down next to Gramps, his face alive with humour.
‘Oscar, leave her alone,’ Gran scolded, waving the spatula at him. ‘And Ava, you’re very welcome to come here whenever you need to, for whatever reason. But perhaps next time you might consider knocking on the door. Or we can give you a key. Saves us thinking we’re being burgled.’
Oscar snorted into his mug of tea and choked, prompting Gramps to drop his paper and start thumping him on the back somewhat harder than was probably necessary.
