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.
‘I’ll try to remember that,’ I told Gran, who promptly placed a large plate of bacon, scrambled eggs and cooked tomatoes in front of me.
The picture on the front of Gramps ’ paper caught my attention.
‘ Who’s that?’
Oscar looked at where I was pointing. ‘She’s a woman from the town who’s missing.’
‘ I’ve see her before. She worked at the hospital.’
‘ That’s right, she’s a nurse.’
‘ She told me to run away.’
‘ She did?’ Oscar frowned and stared at the photograph.
‘ Yes. I thought it was a trap at first but it wasn’t. She was helping me escape.’
‘ Weird.’ He turned back to his food. ‘By the way, Tommy called. He’s waiting at the cottage for you. I’ll take you back there after breakfast.’
My stomach churned and suddenly I wasn ’t hungry. Forcing the food down out of politeness more than anything else, I waited until Oscar had finished then followed him out to his car.
Chapter Eight
We pulled up outside the cottage and the wave of nausea worsened as I looked through the gaping hole in the front of the house.
‘ Wow!’ Oscar murmured.
Tommy was waiting in the lounge for us.
‘Hey,’ he greeted me. He looked exhausted.
‘ I’m so sorry . . .’ I started but he held his hand up to stop me.
‘ Ava, we heard – the telepaths did, I mean. We’ve never experienced anything like it before – usually the other person has to be nearby and conscious to be able to read them but your nightmare came through loud and clear.’
‘ Oh!’
‘ It’s not surprising that you’re having difficulty sleeping. You’ve been through so much more than any of us can ever imagine, that’s obvious. But what I don’t understand is why on earth you keep shutting us out. Why did you insist on staying here by yourself?’
‘ I wanted to prove to Brock and Esther that they can trust me. Obviously I failed.’ My lip quivered. He stepped over to me and pulled me into his arms.
‘ Maybe the point is that you have to learn to trust us. Whatever has happened in the past, you’re one of us now. Ok?’
I nodded, fighting back tears.
‘ Now all we need to do is sort out someone to fix the door.’
‘ Let me do that,’ I broke away from him, heading out of the room.
‘ It’s ok, don’t worry about it,’ Tommy trailed behind me. ‘I’ll call someone when the offices open.’
Ignoring him, I stepped through the door frame and crouched next to it. The door lifted itself up, hovered in mid-air then slotted back into place whilst tiny screws floated up towards the hinges and screwed themselves tightly into their holes. If not for a couple of scratches in the paint work, no one would ever know that anything had happened to it.
*
When Brock and Esther returned home they were very
David Farland
MR. PINK-WHISTLE INTERFERES
Leigh Bale
Alastair Reynolds
Georgia Cates
Erich Segal
Lynn Viehl
Kristy Kiernan
L. C. Morgan
Kimberly Elkins