Read Online Hunted by Sophie McKenzie - Free Book Online

annoyed at all the covering up they’d had to do.
    Heart thumping, I brushed past them into the cottage. Never mind Geri and the others. I needed to focus on finding the Medusa code so the other scientists couldn’t get it.
    The only trouble was, I had no idea where to look.

 
9: The mission
    Maybe the code was written in Mom’s diary.
    I pulled out the box of my parents’ things as soon as I got into my room. I scanned the diary, but all I could see were page after page of lunch dates and beauty appointments. My heart sank. I’d pored over these entries before and there was definitely nothing relevant to the Medusa gene among them.
    Unless this wasn’t Mum’s diary at all and my dad had written the code in cryptic references to blow-drys and bikini waxes, I couldn’t see how any kind of scientific information was held in here.
    A minute later, Ketty, Ed and Nico barged in.
    I looked up from the diary. The three of them were standing in a line in front of the shut door, arms folded. Nico dropped the bag I’d left in the woods on the floor.
    ‘Thought you might like this back,’ he said.
    Irritated at being interrupted, I looked up. ‘What do you want?’ I said.
    ‘How about a thank you?’ Nico snapped.
    ‘And an explanation about where you’ve been?’ Ketty added only slightly more gently.
    I rolled my eyes. ‘Give me a break,’ I said. ‘You sound like Geri.’
    ‘Don’t frigging speak to us like that,’ Nico said. ‘We help you and include you and lie for you and you treat us like garbage. ’
    I stared at him. Of all the people I’d met since I came to England, I probably liked Nico the most. He was funny and street-smart and never acted all wimpy around me. In fact, we often made fun of each other. But recently, he’d been more distant. I’d put it down to him going out with Ketty. Suddenly I wondered if it was me . . . Harry’s words went through my head. You’re really rude. Normally, I just brushed stuff like that off. But here was Nico saying the same thing, more or less.
    Was it true? Did I treat people badly?
    I’d opened my mouth to snap at him . . . to tell them all to go away . . . but instead, I looked down at the bed I was sitting on. The cream quilt grew blurry.
    Jeez , what was happening to me?
    Ed’s thought-speak pushed its way into my head. Dylan, are you all right?
    Go away.
    ‘She’s upset,’ Ed announced to the room. ‘About a lot of things.’
    I looked up, sniffing back my tears.
    Nico and Ketty looked startled.
    I looked at Ketty. ‘Thanks for covering for me, Miss Grungy Sweats,’ I said, my voice low and sullen. ‘I really appreciate it.’
    Nico laughed. ‘Was that an apology?’
    I shrugged. In an instant, Ketty was sitting beside me, her hand over mine.
    ‘Please tell us what’s going on,’ she said. ‘Ed said he thought you were going to this “Hub” place in London, but he didn’t know why. And . . . and you know I can only see into a future that I’m going to be part of, so because I didn’t go to London myself, I couldn’t find out if you were going to be okay.’
    I glanced at her. Ketty isn’t like other girls. I mean, she’s not interested in clothes and accessories like I am. She’s real pretty, in a fresh, natural way – though she doesn’t wear make-up and her hair is often tied back with string or whatever’s closest to hand when she’s getting up. Right now it was held off her face with a thin strip of blue cotton that looked suspiciously like it had been ripped from one of the sheets on her bed.
    Ungroomed didn’t come close as a description and yet there was an honesty in Ketty’s eyes – and a determination – that you couldn’t help but admire.
    ‘Why would you want to see into the future to find out if I was going to be okay?’ I snarled, turning my face away.
    ‘Because . . .’ Ketty sighed. ‘Because I did . . . I do. And I’m not leaving until you talk to us.’
    ‘You can trust us,’ Ed urged from the