Blood Ties

by Sophie McKenzie

  My heart thudded. Apollo? Was that me? Why was Mr Smith referring to me by some weird code name? And what did ‘that time’ refer to?

  ‘Well, that makes sense.’ Jake snorted.

  I glanced at Rachel. ‘D’you understand any of it?’

  Rachel shrugged. She was staring intently at the email. ‘Well Apollo is obviously you. And Artemis must be me. But why? And what is there to find out about me?’ She paused. ‘It would help if we knew what the names meant. I mean, Apollo and Artemis are two of the Greek gods, obviously, but . . .’ She bit her lip.

  Max twisted round. ‘Obviously,’ she mouthed up at me, sarcastically.

  ‘Gods of what?’ I said, ignoring Max.

  Rachel shook her head. ‘I don’t know.’ She hesitated, like there was something on her mind she wasn’t saying.

  ‘Okay.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Well, we can look up about the gods on the internet. But maybe the whole thing will make sense if we know who your dad was sending the email to. Who this Lewis is.’

  ‘I already checked that out,’ Max said. ‘The recipient’s email address is masked but I’ve got the header. Lewis Michael. He’s working out of an ordinary domestic account. But I ran a check on the name and I’m almost sure he’s connected to this organisation called RAGE. Quite a high-ranking member, I reckon. Does that help?’

  My mind flickered back to the newspaper report I’d found on the internet at the library. RAGE. The Righteous Army against Genetic Engineering. The same group who’d blown up the clinic where Dad worked. Who’d killed nine people and sent Dad into hiding.

  ‘What is it, Theo?’ Rachel said.

  I caught Jake’s eye. I could see he was remembering the newspaper article too.

  ‘RAGE is this extreme group that’s against genetic research,’ I said. ‘This extremely violent group. They blew up that clinic your dad and mine both worked in.’

  ‘But why’s my dad emailing them?’ Rachel frowned at me. I saw this awful look of realisation dawn in her eyes. ‘You don’t think he’s . . .? He couldn’t be.’

  Long pause.

  ‘He wasn’t there that day. At the clinic.’ My voice sounded strained.

  The whole world seemed to shrink to Rachel’s horrified eyes. Like we both knew the truth and neither of us wanted to face it.

  But we had to.

  ‘Your dad was the only person who worked at the clinic who survived the firebomb without becoming a RAGE target,’ I said flatly.

  ‘That doesn’t mean . . .’ Rachel’s eyes widened. ‘You can’t be saying my dad was involved in killing all those people?’

  I looked at a spot on the wall next to her face.

  ‘But your dad was there,’ she whispered. ‘You’re saying my dad killed your dad.’

  There was a horrible silence. I knew Rachel was staring at me. I couldn’t meet her eyes.

  Then Jake put his arm round her shoulders.

  ‘No way, babe,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Didn’t Theo tell you? His dad’s still alive.’

  20

  Rachel

  I couldn’t take it in. I stood there stupidly, my mouth open, just staring up at Theo. ‘Your dad isn’t dead?’ I said.

  His face went red. He wouldn’t look at me. Couldn’t look at me.

  I dimly registered his friend Jake’s hand resting lightly on my shoulder.

  My attention was mostly on what Theo had just said, my mind ricochetting between the news that his dad – James Lawson – was alive and the suggestion that my dad could have ever, ever have had anything to do with blowing up that clinic.

  But a part of my mind was horribly aware of the hand too. It felt awkward and wrong and embarrassing, just like it had when Jake had stared at me in the kitchen, earlier.

  I shrank my arm down a little. The hand dropped away.

  Theo slowly met my eyes and I knew. He’d lied to me. I’d stolen Dad’s laptop and let his stupid weirdo hacker friend get all over it like a rash. I’d even put up with her staring at me like I was a bit of dirt.

  And Theo had lied to me.

  It didn’t really matter what about or why. I could feel the itchy tingling of tears behind my eyes and nose. I grabbed the laptop and strode out of the room, down to the front door. I pulled it open and started running along the pavement. I’d left my backpack behind, but right then I didn’t care. I felt so stupid for trusting Theo. I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

  I could hear footsteps pounding after me. ‘Rachel.’ His hand grabbed my arm and pulled me round. ‘Rachel. Please don’t go.’

  I stood, staring down at the pavement. My throat felt tight.

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry.’ Theo shuffled his feet. He let go of my arm. ‘And I’m sorry Max was rude and Jake was an idiot and that somehow your dad’s mixed up in—’

  ‘My dad didn’t do anything,’ I snapped, blinking away my tears. But I couldn’t be sure of that. My mind went back to the text Dad had sent me by mistake. GODDESS STILL IN HEAVEN. Was that somehow connected to the email with all the Greek god names?

  Theo held up his hands, palms out. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Maybe your dad didn’t do anything bad to the clinic. But he definitely knew my dad, and he lied to both of us about that. Didn’t he?’

  I looked up at him.

  That was true.

  ‘Please come back inside,’ Theo said. ‘Let me tell you everything.’

  Mum and Dad were out when I got home. I was relieved. I needed time to think, not have Mum wittering on in my ear about why I’d been shopping all day and come home empty-handed. And, of course, I needed to put Dad’s laptop back. I slipped into his office and left it where I’d found it that morning. Then I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes.

  It felt like a zillion different thoughts and feelings were careering about inside my head. I took a few deep breaths, trying to work it all out.

  I’d forgiven Theo for lying to me about his dad before we’d even got back inside Max’s house. He looked so miserable about upsetting me – his eyes all dark and sad.

  I love his eyes. They’re the sort of eyes you could totally fall into. Fall and keep falling.

  Stop it. Focus, Rachel.

  So. What else did I know? Everything Theo did. And I’d told him everything too – including about the text my dad had sent me by mistake. None of it made sense to either of us. My dad knew Theo’s dad. And, for some reason, he was in touch with the bunch of lunatics who blew up the clinic where they’d both worked.

  I sighed. Whichever way I looked at it, it was impossible to understand. I know Dad didn’t approve of some of the genetic research that had been done at the clinic. That was clear from that newspaper report Theo told me about. But the idea that he felt strongly enough to murder people over it. No. No way. Dad was too conventional. Too normal. He had a job and a house and went to dinner-dances at the tennis club.

  Anyway. He couldn’t be a murderer. He just couldn’t.

  He was my dad.

  I went over the email again. It was like a jigsaw with pieces missing: we’d found out that ‘Apollo’ was a sun god and ‘Artemis’ was a goddess – a hunter. But it didn’t make anything clearer.

  ‘Sweetie?’

  I jumped as the door swung open and Mum’s fixed blonde helmet of hair appeared. She clucked at me.

  ‘Tired out from shopping?’ she cooed. ‘What did you get?’

  ‘Mmmn,’ I grunted. ‘Didn’t find anything I liked, actually.’

  Mum’s face fell. Or would have done, if it hadn’t been artificially held in place by her latest face-lift. ‘Oh, sweetie. I hoped you’d find something nice for that disco.’ She raised her eyes. ‘Shame Theo won’t be going with you.’

  She giggled. I swear, she giggled. I turned away, my face reddening. I’d forgotten about the school disco. It was less than a week away now – Friday evening. It suddenly occurred to me that Mum might not be the only person who assumed I would want to go with Theo.

/>   Now I had another thing to worry about. Honestly. Why did life have to get so complicated?

  I decided that as soon as I got to school on Monday I would somehow make it clear I was busy on the night of the school disco, before anyone could make out my decision had anything to do with Theo.

  But, as usual, Jemima was way ahead of me.

  Monday. The last day of November. Dad had left on a business trip to Germany that morning. For some reason I’d started working in class again. I hadn’t meant to. I just found myself copying down stuff without realising it. Not that I was concentrating very much. I spent most of my time thinking about Theo. I was thinking about him when the bell rang for short break. I walked outside. It was freezing cold and everyone was huddled in groups, just trying to keep warm.

  As I wandered across the playground I saw Jemima and her friends standing around in a giggling cluster, a couple of metres away. I scurried past them, intending to find a quiet patch of wall round the side of the school, where I could be by myself.

  Someone grabbed my hair from behind. Yanked me backwards.

  ‘OW!’ I tried to turn round. Bodies pressed in on me from all sides. My chest tightened.

  Jemima’s face appeared in front of me, her eyes all narrow and mean. She glanced over my shoulder at whoever was tugging on my hair.

  ‘Nice takedown, Phoebs.’

  ‘Let me go,’ I stammered.

  ‘Ooooh.’ The girls around me giggled.

  ‘So. You know if you’re a virgin yet?’ Jemima sneered.

  I looked down at my shoes. My heart pounded against my ribs.

  ‘You see, I think you were lying about that boy,’ Jemima said. ‘I think you made up about him being your boyfriend just so you’d look like you weren’t the total loser you in fact are.’

  I blushed. Trust Jemima. This wasn’t fair. I’d only hinted about Theo and me.

  ‘I didn’t say he was my boyfriend.’

  Jemima pounced on this like a cat, her pointy face gleaming with delight. ‘So he isn’t then?’ she said triumphantly.

  I paused, unsure what to do. If I said Theo and I weren’t going out now, I’d look unbelievably stupid. But if I said we were – and any of them ever found out . . .

  ‘I know why you made it up,’ Jemima said slowly. ‘My mum told me you had a sister who came here years ago. Really pretty and popular. I bet she had a boyfriend in Year Ten.’

  I stared at her, horror-struck. Jemima knew about Rebecca? Wasn’t it bad enough to have Mum and Dad and the teachers talking about her all the time? Now everyone in my class would know how useless I was compared to her too.

  I took a deep breath.

  ‘Actually he is my boyfriend.’ I stared Jemima in the eye. ‘I saw him on Saturday. We were together all day.’

  For a second, Jemima looked shocked. Like she wasn’t really sure whether or not to believe me.

  ‘Oh yeah? How far d’you go then?’

  The girls around us sniggered. Then there was an expectant pause. They were all looking at me. I could feel Phoebe behind me, still tugging at my hair.

  Jemima curled her lip. Any second now she’d start in on how I was making it all up again. I had to say something. Something convincing.

  ‘We went to his friend’s house . . .’ I hesitated, my heart racing. No way could I add any imaginary details. ‘We just did . . . stuff.’

  Jemima snorted. ‘You don’t even know what people do, do you? Which isn’t surprising. Who’d want to touch you? Ugh.’ She screwed up her face. Phoebe laughed loudly behind me. I could feel her grip on my hair loosening.

  ‘Actually he does want to . . . with me,’ I said. It didn’t sound like my voice speaking.

  ‘Yeah right.’ Jemima’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re making it up.’

  My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode. But it was too late to take back what I’d said now. ‘No, I’m not.’

  Jemima folded her arms and grinned nastily. ‘Mmmn,’ she said. ‘We’ll see at the disco, won’t we? On Friday.’

  Oh, God.

  I guess I should have just come right out then and said I wasn’t going to the stupid disco. That Theo and I were going to the movies instead, or something. But as I looked into Jemima’s eyes I knew that was exactly what she was expecting me to say. And that she wouldn’t believe a word of it.

  ‘Yes,’ I said, my face burning. ‘You’ll see on Friday.’

  Jemima’s mouth twitched with annoyance. She hadn’t expected me to call her bluff. ‘Fine,’ she spat. ‘Hey. I bet your sister didn’t have to make up stories about having a boyfriend.’

  Sniggers and giggles.

  ‘Anyway, he’s gonna dump you way before Friday.’

  More sniggers. More giggles.

  My eyes filled with tears. I tore away from Phoebe’s loose grasp and pushed through the girls surrounding me. I ran hard across the playground, the tarmac blurring in front of me, the sound of sneering laughter ringing in my ears.

  I’d just made things worse. Jemima still didn’t believe Theo liked me. Which meant nobody did. And now I’d more or less staked the proof of it on whether or not Theo came to the school disco. Which he wouldn’t. Stupid, stupid. I was going to look a total idiot.

  Unless . . . unless there was some way I could get him to come.

  21

  Theo

  I didn’t speak to Jake for two days. I was too angry at him for telling Rachel about my dad being alive. I’d ended up explaining everything to her. She knew as much as I did now – more than Max and Jake, even. I felt I owed it to her to be honest, but I didn’t like it. I really didn’t like how it felt – trusting her with all that information.

  Eventually I got bored of not talking to Jake. I went up to him at break on Tuesday and joined in his football game. We had to talk then, about passing the ball and stuff. So it was natural to just keep on talking afterwards.

  He kept nagging me to organise another Saturday with Rachel and Max.

  I didn’t like that either. I mean, I’d expected him to bore on about Max. After all, he’d spent most of Saturday afternoon being beaten by her at Deathmaster Battleground. Grinning like an idiot while she insulted him.

  But Jake kept talking about Rachel. ‘I think she liked me,’ he said as we changed after games on Tuesday afternoon. ‘Up for a snog anyway. Definitely.’

  Rachel? I frowned. Max could look after herself, but the idea of Jake hassling Rachel for a kiss annoyed me. She was too shy. Too easily upset about everything.

  I tugged my shirt on and started buttoning it up. ‘You only think she likes you because she didn’t tell you to piss right off,’ I said. ‘I don’t want you stirring things up.’

  ‘Then I’ll go for Max.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t you see? Between us we can’t lose.’

  ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ I snapped. ‘I’m not interested in either of them.’

  It was true. I never thought about Max like that. And Rachel. Well. Rachel wasn’t the sort of person you’d fancy.

  ‘So who are you interested in outside of chicks in magazines and bands?’ Jake rolled his eyes. ‘D’you even like real girls?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ I said.

  I did too. I’d got off with quite a few girls in the past year – at parties mostly, while Roy waited outside the front door. It was easy. You talk for a bit. Get into a snog. Go as far as they’ll let you. Move on to the next one.

  No problem.

  ‘They’re not creatures from another planet, you know.’ Jake stared at me thoughtfully as he did up his tie. Then he grinned. ‘Though Max is kind of weird. How come she knows all that stuff about encryptions and network protocols?’

  I grinned back. ‘She taught herself mostly. She’s obsessed. Never does any schoolwork.’

  ‘Good thing for you now.’ Jake picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. ‘Without her you wouldn’t know about Rachel’s dad. Or what he’s going to do next.’

  The smile slid
off my face as I trudged after Jake to the main school exit, where Roy was waiting to take me home.

  I’d been trying not to think about what Rachel’s dad would do next. I knew it depended on how that guy, Lewis Michael, from RAGE replied to his email. Max had put some kind of blind copy trace on Rachel’s dad’s email address, which meant that if Lewis Michael responded, Max would see it.

  I wanted to know. Of course I did. But at the same time I was scared. If RAGE knew I was James Lawson’s son, I wasn’t sure what they’d do.

  Rachel had promised not to tell her dad any of the details that might lead them to me – like my real address or my actual school. My stomach clenched whenever I thought that my safety might depend on her keeping that promise.

  Max phoned that night, about an hour after I’d got home from school. Her voice sounded strained. ‘You’d better come round straight away,’ she said.

  I called Jake. It was only fair, I figured. Anyway, Rachel wasn’t going to be there. We got to Max’s house at just after six. As usual, Roy did a check round the ground floor for open windows and doors, then retreated into the front room with his paper. Max led Jake and me straight up to her room. ‘Lewis Michael sent this to Rachel’s dad this morning,’ she said. ‘It’s kind of creepy, Theo.’

  Zeus didn’t send Apollo and He isn’t pleased. Especially that you just let the boy go. When you’re back from your trip, find out how much Artemis knows but don’t make her suspicious. Zeus wants to keep it low key, not even telling Leto.

  So long as Simpson doesn’t know, all we have to worry about is shutting Apollo up, and Zeus is working out a way to do that – permanently. We’ll make a move at the weekend.

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. I was Apollo and RAGE wanted to shut me up. Permanently. What did that mean? It didn’t sound like it had anything to do with getting at my dad. It sounded like they wanted to kill me.

  The same people who were after my dad, were coming for me. And by going to Mr Smith I’d walked straight into their hands.