Read Online Shared Skies by Josephine O Brien - Free Book Online Page B

fathoms
deep. The smiling face of the shop guy came in between
them.
    “ Hi, I’m Graeme, don’t pay
any attention to Neal, my overly-dramatic friend here,” his smile
revealed deep dimples at the sides of his full mouth. Then he put
his arm around her shoulder and led her around Neal to the counter.
His eyes lingered appreciatively on her. “What can I do for you? Oh
wondrous stranger, what is your name, where do you live and are you
staying long?” His grin was so open and infectious that Gaiah
couldn't help smiling back and there was nothing offensive in his
bantering tone.
    “ Gaiah. I’m starting
school here on Monday. Twenty pounds of credit.” Oh God! She was
mortified to hear such a stupid sentence coming out of her mouth.
Colour flooded her face. Where was the
sassy big city chick, the urban cool?
    This was pure country bumpkin stuff!
    He was looking at her and laughing. She
noticed his Johnny Depp cheekbones and as if this wasn’t enough his
eye lashes were so long they nearly brushed his cheeks when he
blinked. Her search for composure was halted by Neal.
    “ Hey! I meant what I said
Graeme.” Neal took a step closer to Gaiah and a frisson of fear ran
through her. He looked at her and held her gaze. She was being
pulled into a whirlpool.
    “ Oh fuck off, Neal.”
Graeme’s voice broke the spell and Neal just turned and left
without a word. Graeme grinned, “Take no notice of Neal–I don’t.
Right, let’s get you sorted with your credit.”
    Gaiah wondered how a situation which had
sounded so serious and tense was dismissed so easily. Graeme keyed
in the transaction and said, “Well there’s no question about when
we three shall meet again.”
    “ Huh?” Gaiah could come up
with nothing better.
    Graeme laughed, “Monday. We’ll see you in
school.”
    “ Him too?” Surprise gave
Gaiah voice and she nodded her head towards the door.
    “ Yup, ‘fraid so. He’s
repeating yet another year. Never mind him, I’m suddenly looking
forward to Monday!” He leant across the counter, those amazing eyes
were serious, belying his flippant tone.
    Gaiah coloured; she still couldn’t think of
a witty or clever comeback. She just nodded, muttered, “Thanks,”
and almost ran out of the shop.
    Alasdair and Kaley smiled
at her as she rushed into the car and continued their discussion
about dinner. She used the pretext of messaging her father to calm
down. Aaaargh, I hope he didn’t think I
meant ‘thanks’ for saying he was looking forward to Monday. How
weird. I've been told that the world is nothing like I always
thought it was, that I’m a half-breed offspring from another
dimension and I'm dealing with it, kind of. But those two guys
really rattled me. She closed her eyes,
leant her head against the cold window and tried to will her brain
into neutral.

Chapter Six
     
    When she next looked out of the window, her
heart jumped. Although it was getting dark, she could see a
familiar laneway. It had the same hedges, the same rose bushes and
there, in the clearing, was the one-storey house with the wooden
porch she remembered so well.
    “ How the hell can this be
here? We drove every inch of this place, I know we did.”
    Kaley looked at her, eyes soft with
sympathy. “I know, my dear, I know. It’s just that this house was,
and is, a construct from Gaiana. I’m sure you learned in physics
class that the world is constructed from atoms. Everything, and I
mean everything, people included, are atoms held together by
various forces. And inside each atom, its nucleus is rattling
around in its own space like a ping pong ball perpetually bouncing
around a football stadium.”
    Gaiah did indeed remember. For a long time
after that particular science class she had been convinced if she
put her ear down on the table and had complete silence, she would
hear the nuclei moving.
    Kaley continued, “On Earth now, they are
discovering things get even smaller, now they have quantum physics
which make atoms look