Blood Ties

by Sophie McKenzie

  She did.

  She tilted her head to one side. Then she leaned over and kissed my cheek.

  Oh man, she was getting all soppy thinking I was getting all loved-up over some girl.

  I resisted the impulse to wipe her kiss away.

  ‘I’m still furious with you,’ she said. ‘But I do appreciate how hard it must be for you – having Roy around all the time.’ She sat back on the sofa and stared at me. ‘You’re grounded for the rest of the week. And no friends here either. What you did was wrong. Skipping school. Not calling me. It was selfish and thoughtless.’

  I nodded. A week wasn’t bad. In fact it was brilliant, considering how angry she’d been when I walked in.

  Mum smiled. ‘So, what’s this Rachel like then?’

  16

  Rachel

  What was I supposed to do now?

  As soon as I got to school the next day all the girls in my class had asked me about Theo. Even Jemima – though of course she made out he wasn’t worth bothering with.

  But it didn’t work. Because everyone had seen him. Everyone had seen how fit he looked. I got a bit carried away, in fact. Hinting he was sort of into me. Hinting that he’d only pretended to have a message from my boyfriend because he wanted to ask me out himself. I mean, I didn’t come out with an actual lie. But I hinted. I definitely hinted.

  I thought about calling him all day, trying to work out exactly what to say. I did it on the way home from school. My fingers were shaking as I dialled his number on my mobile.

  But it wasn’t how I’d expected at all. First I got his mum, which was really embarrassing. And then Theo sounded really distant, like he didn’t want to talk to me at all.

  I got all confused telling him what had happened with Dad. And my mobile kept cutting out, so he missed bits of what I was saying and I had to repeat myself.

  And then it got worse. I couldn’t believe what he asked me to do. As soon as he’d suggested it he took it back and said he couldn’t expect me to do it. But I knew it was what he really wanted.

  And I knew I was going to do it, even though part of me – a big part of me – knew it was wrong.

  17

  Theo

  This was it. As soon as I put the phone down on Rachel, I knew. This was it.

  I called Max straight away to set things up for Saturday week. That was the first weekend day we could all meet, when I wouldn’t be grounded any more and Rachel would have the chance to do what I’d asked her to do.

  If she was really prepared to do it.

  I couldn’t believe she would.

  I mean, I hardly knew her.

  But still. She’d said yes. She’d said she’d do it. If only she had the guts to carry it through.

  I prayed that she did.

  18

  Rachel

  Saturday morning finally arrived. I wandered into the kitchen and told Mum I was going out to meet up with some friends from my class.

  ‘We’re going to go shopping and then maybe get an ice cream or something,’ I said, ultra-casually.

  Mum pursed her lips and stared at me suspiciously. I knew what she was thinking. What friends? I hadn’t gone out much all term and I never had people back to the house any more.

  ‘It’s Clara,’ I said, saying the first name that came to me. ‘And a few others. We’re looking for stuff for the school disco.’

  I had, of course, no intention of going to the school disco. Though, if I was honest, I’d spent quite a lot of the last week imagining being there with Theo.

  Mum nodded. ‘Have a good time, then,’ she said. ‘And sweetie, don’t buy anything cropped. It’s not a flattering look on you. Top or bottom.’

  ‘Right.’ Normally that kind of remark would have really upset me, especially as we were standing in front of a picture of Rebecca looking stunning in these cut-off trousers Mum always referred to as clamdiggers. But today I was only half listening to her. Most of my mind was focused on what I had to do next.

  I checked the time as I walked through the hall. Ten-thirty a.m. Dad was still at squash. He never got home before eleven. And I planned to be out of here long before that.

  I could feel myself speeding up as I climbed the stairs. I just wanted to get this over with now. My mouth felt dry as I darted along the landing and into my room. Backpack. Make-up and hairbrush. Purse.

  I had everything I needed.

  Everything except the main thing.

  I crept to the top of the stairs. I could hear Mum clattering about in the kitchen. I gritted my teeth and marched into Dad’s office. His laptop was in its normal place beside the desk. I grabbed it and shoved it into my backpack. My hands were sweating as I zipped the bag up and swung it over my back. I sped downstairs, crept across the parquet floor and opened the front door.

  Almost out.

  ‘Sweetie.’

  I spun round, my heart thumping.

  Mum was staring at me curiously from the kitchen door. ‘What on earth have you got that big rucksack on for?’ she frowned.

  ‘ Er . . . school books,’ I said, blushing. ‘Stuff I borrowed off Clara. I have to give them back. She needs them for homework this weekend.’

  Mum fluffed up her hair. ‘Okay,’ she said, turning to look at herself in the mirror opposite. ‘I just wanted to say you should avoid buying anything yellow. Not a good colour for you. Go for blue or green. Bring out what colour there is in your eyes.’

  Yeah, right, Mum. We both know my eyes are the colour of sludge.

  ‘Fine,’ I said, stepping outside. ‘Bye.’

  I shut the door and raced off up the road to the train station.

  As I got closer to the North London address Theo had given me, I got more nervous. Up until now I’d only been worried about getting Dad’s laptop out of the house. Now I started thinking seriously about what would happen when I arrived at the place we were meeting. It belonged to some friend of Theo’s called Max.

  A zillion anxious thoughts flooded my head.

  What was Max going to be like? How was he going to hack into Dad’s emails? I mean, Dad had a password I didn’t know.

  Anyway, suppose Dad had deleted the email after he’d sent it? Worse. What if I was wrong and the email was nothing to do with Theo? Or what if Dad had changed his mind and there was no email?

  I’ll feel so stupid if they can’t find anything on the computer.

  Then again, suppose Max did manage to find something? What if all Dad’s files got destroyed or corrupted? How would I ever explain that?

  By the time I reached the tube station closest to Max’s house I’d been travelling for nearly two hours and felt all ugly and dirty as well as scared. I’d put on this pale-green top and was sure I was sweating into it horribly under the arms. I’d caught sight of myself in a shop window walking up from the tube station and, as usual, my hair looked awful – all lank and shapeless round my face.

  I stood in a doorway and put on a little make-up. It didn’t help. Now I just looked like an ugly girl with black-ringed eyes and overly glossy lips.

  I found the right road and trudged down it. I rubbed some of the lip gloss off with my finger. Dad’s laptop was pulling on my shoulders now and my back was aching.

  I took a few deep breaths. At least I was going to see Theo. Even if he wouldn’t go for me in a million years, I’d get to talk to him again. And it wasn’t like there’d be loads of people there. Only this Max, who was probably just some geeky boy with spots.

  I checked the address Theo had given me. I was here. A small, brick terraced house with a front garden full of weeds and peeling paintwork on the door. A thickset man was squinting at me from one of the windows, his arms folded. Who was that? Max’s dad, maybe?

  I rang the doorbell, fear surging through my stomach. The sound of dogs barking came from inside the house. Then the door swung inwards and two enormous, brown-haired mongrels poked their heads through the gap. Theo was bent over between them, struggling to pull the dogs back by the
ir stiff leather collars.

  ‘Hi.’ He flicked his head to get his hair out of his eyes.

  ‘Hi,’ I squeaked back, feeling my face redden. He was even more gorgeous than I’d remembered. I quickly clocked the jeans and trainers – the same ones that he’d worn before. But now he was wearing a black T-shirt. His arms were smooth and brown underneath, his muscles all tensed with the effort of holding on to the dogs.

  ‘Sorry about the mutts,’ Theo said. ‘They’re Max’s. Hey, log off, guys. Log off.’ The dogs stopped leaping about and stood obediently at his side. I stared at them. I like dogs, but Mum had never let me have any kind of pet, so I wasn’t used to them. I reached forwards and carefully petted the smaller dog on the back. His fur was short and dark and rough. He sniffed at my shoes.

  ‘That’s Java,’ Theo said. ‘The other one’s his mum, Perl.’ Perl wagged her tail furiously. She had a long, intelligent face and almost looked like she was smiling at me.

  I looked up at Theo. He glanced through a door to my left, where the thickset man I’d seen at the window was staring at us.

  Theo saw I’d noticed. ‘Er . . . that’s Roy.’ He shut the front door and propelled me towards the stairs. The dogs scampered after us.

  I wanted to ask who Roy was, but Theo clearly didn’t want to talk about him.

  We climbed the stairs. ‘Did you get it okay?’ Theo said. His voice was low. It sent a shiver down my spine.

  I nodded. ‘It was fine. My dad was out and I don’t think Mum suspected anything.’ I shrugged the backpack off my shoulders as we reached the first floor. A long corridor stretched ahead of us, doors leading off on both sides – books and bags and dirty clothes were strewn all over the carpet. ‘The computer’s in here.’ I handed Theo the bag.

  ‘Thanks.’ He stared at me. ‘I really, really appreciate you doing this.’

  I looked at the floor, embarrassed, not sure what to say. Then the smaller dog ran up again, licking at my hand.

  ‘What did you say they were called?’ I said, bending down to stroke him.

  ‘Java and Perl. They’re named after computer programs. They only understand computer-speak. If you want them to fetch stuff you have to tell them to defrag it. And check this out.’ Theo leaned down and picked up a pink-and-white sock that lay on top of a heap of dirty washing next to us.

  ‘Virus. This is a virus,’ he said, holding the sock out to the dogs. He threw it into the air above their heads. ‘Okay. Delete the virus.’

  Perl and Java leaped for the sock. Each grabbed an end in their mouth and tugged hard. In seconds the sock was torn to shreds.

  ‘Wow,’ I said, transfixed by the dogs. ‘They’re amazing.’ It was strange. All those anxieties I’d had. And now being here with Theo just seemed like the most natural thing in the world. He turned away from the dogs and smiled at me. A warm, generous, beautiful smile.

  I could feel my heart liquefying and sliding into a puddle at his feet.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, patting the bag. ‘Let’s take this to Max.’

  I followed him along the corridor. With any luck Max would be so geeky that he’d get completely wrapped up in hacking into Dad’s computer and leave me and Theo to talk.

  Not that I could think of anything to say.

  Not that Theo would ever, ever be interested in me.

  Perl and Java raced past us, barking happily as they bounded into a room at the end of the corridor. Theo stood back to let me go past him. The room was as messy as the corridor outside. Overflowing with wires and headphones and computer games, with heaps of clothes scattered across the floor. A pair of lemon-yellow curtains fluttered at the dusty window. A hunched-over figure was sitting at the desk in the corner, mostly hidden behind two precariously balanced stacks of DVDs and mini-disks.

  ‘Max,’ Theo said. ‘This is Rachel.’

  The figure uncurled itself and stood up.

  Close-cropped, white-blonde hair. Pale, pinched face. Long, skinny legs in tight, massively ripped jeans.

  My mouth dropped open.

  Max was a girl.

  19

  Theo

  I pulled the laptop out of the bag and shoved it at Max. She took it, then just stood there, staring at Rachel.

  ‘Max,’ I muttered. Why did she have to glare like that? I knew Max so well I didn’t often stop to think about how strange she must look to someone who’d never met her before, with those jeans she always wore that were more rip than denim and her stony black eyes that bored into you.

  Rachel was blushing, her forehead shining with sweat.

  ‘D’you want a drink?’ I said. ‘Give Max a chance to examine the hard drive.’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ Rachel smiled shyly at me. Then she turned back to Max. ‘You won’t . . . I mean, the computer . . . it won’t show that you’ve been looking or . . .’

  ‘Course not.’ Max sniffed impatiently. ‘Your dad’ll never know anyone’s been anywhere near it.’

  ‘But he has a password,’ Rachel stammered. ‘I don’t know what it is. Will you . . . I mean, how are you going to get past that?’

  I could see Max bristling. She hates it when people question her hacking abilities. ‘If I told you I’d have to kill you,’ she said, completely straight-faced.

  Rachel was now looking utterly freaked out.

  ‘Hah, hah,’ I said. ‘Hilarious, Max.’ I raised my eyes at Rachel. ‘Don’t worry. Passwords are one of Max’s specialities.’

  Max shook her head dismissively and shunted the laptop onto the desk. ‘I’m looking for emails between this Richard Smith guy and someone called Lewis. Yeah?’

  I nodded, ushering Rachel towards the door. ‘We’ll be back in a minute,’ I said.

  I took Rachel downstairs to Max’s kitchen. She gazed round the room, her mouth falling open at the sight of the dirty plates piled up on every surface. It was a bit of a mess. Max’s mum’s an artist. Spends most of her time in her studio, painting and stuff. She’s not massively into housework. And I doubt if Max even knows where the washing-up liquid is kept.

  I walked over to the sink and rinsed out a couple of glasses.

  ‘Water okay?’ I said.

  Rachel nodded.

  We sipped our drinks in silence for a few moments. Rachel was still looking around, frowning.

  ‘How . . . er . . . how do you know Max?’ she said. ‘Does she go to your school?’

  I laughed. ‘No way. Mine’s just a boys’ school. Max and I’ve known each other since we were at nursery. Our mums met when we were little. Max and I are . . . we’re like baby friends. I mean she’s a bit weird. But she’s all right underneath. Like my sister or something.’

  For some reason this made Rachel smile. A big smile that lit up her whole face. It was the first time I’d seen her appear anything other than worried or embarrassed. For a couple of seconds she looked really pretty. Then she blushed and dipped her head.

  The doorbell rang and the dogs started barking again.

  ‘I’ll go,’ I yelled, unnecessarily. Like Max or her mum would even hear the bell.

  I strolled down the corridor and restrained Perl and Java again while I opened the door.

  Jake stood on the other side. He grinned at me. ‘Both your birds here, then?’

  Fantastic. Jake in full-on, babe-magnet mode.

  Just what I needed.

  ‘Stop it,’ I hissed. But Jake pushed past me and the two dogs and strode over to the stairs. He had come with me to visit Max several times. I was pretty sure he had a fairly big crush on her. It was always hard to tell with Jake, of course, what with his habit of fancying anything that moved. But I knew he loved the way Max was always rude to him. Sometimes I wondered what Jake would do if a girl ever actually encouraged him. Probably collapse from shock.

  ‘Hey, Max,’ Jake called up the stairs. ‘Wanna game of Deathmaster Battleground later? Bet I can kick your arse at it.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’ Max’s shout dripped with sarcasm. ‘I’m quaking.’r />
  Undeterred, Jake spun round and mouthed, ‘Where’s Rachel?’ at me.

  I nodded towards the kitchen. ‘Be cool,’ I mouthed back.

  Rachel was sitting at the kitchen table – which was covered with magazines and pencil sketches and old mugs of coffee – still sipping her water.

  She looked up at Jake.

  ‘Hey there, Rachel,’ he said in what I knew was his attempt at a smooth and sophisticated voice. He slipped along the bench at the table until he was sitting directly opposite her. ‘Wow,’ he said. ‘You have really pretty eyes.’

  For God’s sake.

  I shuddered and marched over to the sink to pour myself some more water. Rachel said nothing. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her staring down at the table. She looked embarrassed. I suddenly felt massively annoyed with Jake. It was all very well him making a prat of himself with girls we didn’t know at Starbucks. But Rachel was doing me a huge favour here.

  ‘Hey, Jake,’ I said fiercely. ‘Why don’t you—?’

  ‘Theo.’ I looked round. Max was standing in the doorway, grinning. ‘I’ve done it. Come and see.’

  We followed Max upstairs to her room.

  ‘Richard Smith had deleted the email but I found it on the hard drive,’ Max explained. ‘He used a standard one hundred and twenty-eight-bit symmetric encryption.’

  I stared blankly at her.

  ‘High end for a domestic user, but fairly straightforward.’ She ran over to the computer and jiggled the mouse. ‘Look.’

  Rachel, Jake and I lined up next to each other, peering over her shoulder at the email on the screen.

  Apollo was here. In my house. I’m sure it was him. He came in with Artemis. She said they’d met by chance. But there’s no way this is a coincidence. He was asking about that time. About James Lawson.

  You know how dangerous this is. We have to stop anyone finding out about Artemis.

  What should I do?

  The email ended by giving the false name and school I’d told to Rachel’s parents.