Finding Sky (11 page)

‘You’re not. I’m a rubbish daughter. You took me in and put up with me and I …’

She gave me a little shake. ‘And you have given us a hundred times more than we ever gave you. And we’ve never forgotten for one moment that we have you even when we are at our most unbearable. Give Simon a chance to cool down and I expect he’ll even say sorry to you.’

‘I was scared, Sally. They were shooting at us.’

‘I know, darling.’

‘Zed was really great. Knew what to do and everything.’

‘He’s a nice boy.’

‘I like him.’

‘I think you more than like him.’

I sniffed, fumbling for a handkerchief. I had no idea what I felt about him—confused about the savant connection, doubtful that anyone could want me as much as he claimed, just learning to trust him a little.

‘Be careful, Sky. You are such a sensitive soul. A boy like that can crush you if you get too hung up on him.’

‘A boy like what?’ Why did everyone think they could put a label on Zed?

She sighed and steered me back to the car. ‘He’s good-looking, a little wild from what I hear. Few people stay long with their high school sweethearts—it’s part of the training for life.’

‘We’ve only had one date.’

‘Exactly. So don’t let your imagination go running off with you. Play it cool and you’ll keep him interested.’

Him being interested wasn’t the problem—I was the one keeping it light. But this was so like my mum—to worry about the heart when bullets had been flying. ‘And this is, what, relationship advice according to Dr Sally Bright?’

‘Do we need to have
that
conversation again? I thought we discussed it when you were twelve,’ she teased.

‘No, no, thanks, I’ve got the facts.’

‘Then I trust you to apply them in practice.’

‘You trust me, but Simon doesn’t.’

She sighed. ‘No, he’s always felt really protective about you, maybe even more so because you were so hurt when we took you on. If he could lock you in a tower, dig ditches, plant a minefield and ring it all with razor wire, he’d do it.’

‘I suppose I’m lucky I’m only grounded.’

‘Yes, you are. I can probably beat him down to two weeks for you, but I think we can safely say you’re grounded.’

 

The third eldest Benedict brother, Victor, came calling after we’d gone to bed. I could hear Simon swearing as he fumbled for his dressing gown to throw over his T-shirt and shorts. Sally came to fetch me.

‘Not asleep yet?’

‘No. Wha’s up?’

‘The FBI are in the kitchen. They want a word with us.’

Victor was with a female colleague. He had straight, long dark hair tied back in a ponytail and wore a sharp black suit with a silver tie. Like his father, he had a calm aura, as if he could be surprised by few things. The colleague struck me as more nervous. She was tapping her stylus on her electronic memo, her hawkish face shadowed, her short brown hair sleeked back behind her ears.

‘Sky.’ Victor held out a hand to me and led me to the seat opposite him. It was strange how he acted as if he was in control in our kitchen. Sally and Simon had given way to him without a murmur, hovering on the margins while he ran the show. ‘Do you mind if we record this?’ He gestured to the BlackBerry lying on the table.

I glanced at Simon. He shook his head.

‘That’s OK. I don’t mind.’

He pressed a button. ‘Record on. Incident seven, seven, eight, slash ten. Interview four. Present in the room are agents Victor Benedict and Anya Kowalski and witness, Sky Bright, a minor. Also in attendance are the witness’s parents, Simon and Sally Bright.’

Cripes, this sounded like a trial.

‘Have I done something wrong?’ I asked, rubbing at the tea stain on the table top.

Victor’s expression softened and he shook his head. ‘Other than go out with my idiot brother, I’d say not. Sky, you’re sixteen, is that right? What’s your date of birth?’

‘Um …’

Sally jumped in. ‘No one is sure of her exact date as she lost her birth parents when she was six. We chose the day we adopted her—first of March—as her birthday.’

The hawkish agent made a note.

‘OK,’ said Victor, giving me a speculative look. ‘Now, Sky, I want you to tell us in your own words, remembering as much detail as possible, what happened this evening out in the woods.’

Pushing a few stray grains of sugar to and fro on the table, I relived the experience for the record, running it in my head like one of my plots frame by frame, leaving out only the fact that for some of the time Zed and I had been using telepathy. Oh, and the kiss. I didn’t think they needed to know about that.

‘Zed said you were the one to realize that there was more than one shooter. How did you know?’ Ms Kowalski butted in when I had reached that part in the story.

I wondered if I should make up something about hearing a noise or seeing another person, but decided I’d better stick to the truth.

‘It was a gut feeling—you know, like an instinct.’

‘Sky’s always had good instincts,’ added Sally, embarrassingly over-eager to assist the authorities with their enquiries. ‘Remember how she never liked that tutor we employed for her that time, Simon? Turned out he’d been involved in a hit and run incident.’

I’d forgotten that—it had happened years ago. Mr Bagshot had made me feel panicky—guilty—when I was with him as if his emotions were spilling out and swamping me.

‘Interesting.’ Victor laced his fingers together. ‘So you saw nothing, just felt it?’

‘Yes.’ I rubbed my temples, the headache back.

Victor dug in his pocket and pulled out a packet of aspirin. ‘Zed sent these. He said you’d forget to take one.’

He’d seen this and not that we’d get shot at if we went for a walk? Second sight was annoyingly patchy. I took a tablet with a gulp of water and finished the story.

‘Have you caught the men who did this?’ Simon asked. Both he and Sally were pale: they hadn’t heard the details of what happened, nor how close the bullets had come.

‘No, sir.’

‘Any idea who they were?’

‘Not at this time.’

‘Is Sky in danger?’

‘We have no reason to think so.’ Victor paused. ‘I want to tell you something in confidence; you need to understand so you can make sure Sky is safe, but I have to ask you to keep it to yourselves.’

I wondered for a horrid moment if he was about to tell my parents about the savant stuff. They’d never believe him.

‘You can trust us,’ Simon confirmed.

‘My family are here as part of a witness protection programme run by the FBI. We’re afraid that news of their location must have leaked to associates of the people they helped send to jail. The attack was aimed at them, not your daughter, so we think she is under no further threat as long as she keeps her distance from us.’

‘Oh.’ Sally sat down, sagging like a collapsing inflatable. ‘You poor things—to be living under that pressure.’

Simon had guessed the next step. ‘Will you be moving now your location is no longer a secret?’

‘We hope not. We all try and keep a low profile—’

‘I’m stopping as Colorado junior champion and retiring
undefeated’,
Xavier had said. He didn’t want to become too well known across state boundaries. Zed had avoided making more than a good impression on the baseball diamond, ducking attention.

‘But it’s a bit early to say—and hard to uproot the whole family. Our preference is to deal with this threat, contain it, and see where we stand then.’

I drew a circle with my fingertip. ‘And if you’ve a leak in the FBI, you have to plug it before moving or the problem would just follow you all.’

Victor’s gaze sharpened. ‘You’re a bright girl, aren’t you? No pun intended.’

‘But I’m right, aren’t I?’

‘Yeah. We can protect ourselves better in a place we know until we can be sure it’s safe.’

‘I see.’

He got up and pocketed the recorder. ‘Yeah, you do, don’t you. You’re sweet, just like Dad said you were. Thanks for your time, Sky, Mr and Mrs Bright.’

‘No problem, Agent Benedict,’ Simon said, showing them to the door.

Sally sat down next to me at the table. Simon sat on my other side and reached for my hand.

‘Well,’ he said.

‘Yeah.’ I leant my head on his shoulder, our earlier argument forgiven.

‘I’m sorry, Sky, but we can’t let you see that boy out of school, or any of his family for that matter, until this is all sorted out.’

‘It’s not fair.’

‘No, it’s not, darling. I’m sorry.’

Unable to see Zed in my free time, I couldn’t wait to catch up with him at school to find out what was going to happen to his family. I felt very confused when he didn’t turn up for the next few days. He’d left me worried sick and facing everyone with an unexplained black eye. It was totally embarrassing—the kind that makes you want to curl up quietly in a corner.

‘Whoa, Sky, you take up boxing?’ Nelson exclaimed in a loud voice on seeing me in the school hallway.

I tried to pull a hank of hair over my injury. ‘No.’

Other students were now looking at me as if I were an exhibit.
Funny Girl with Black Eye
, roll up, roll up!

‘How’d’ you do it then?’

I put on a spurt of speed, hoping to reach my form room before he got it out of me.

‘Hey, Sky, you can tell me.’ Nelson caught my arm, no longer teasing but serious now. ‘Did someone hurt you?’

I shoved my hair off my face and looked at him straight. ‘I ran into an elbow yesterday.’

‘Whose?’

‘Zed’s. No big deal.’

‘No big freaking deal! You’re joking! Where is he?’ Nelson looked fit to burst. ‘I knew no good would come of it. He should take better care of you.’

‘It’s OK.’

‘No, it is not OK, Sky. Zed’s not right for a girl like you.’

‘It was an accident.’

‘So how it happen then?’ He put his arm across the door, denying me entry. ‘How you run into his elbow?’

What could I say? We were targeted by an assassin? That would be like setting off a box of fireworks in whole school assembly.

‘We were mucking about in the woods and I kind of fell against him. Nelson, will you let me go in? It’s bad enough looking stupid; I don’t also want to be late.’

Nelson dropped his arm. ‘But I got your back, remember? It may have been an accident but I don’t see him here checking you’re all right. I’m gonna have a word with Zed.’

‘Don’t.’

‘Nothing you can do to stop me, Sky baby.’

So now I had something else to dread: Nelson ripping up Zed in the mistaken belief he was somehow defending me.

Zed turned up two days later. Victor drove both him and Yves to school in a sleek Prius with blacked out windows, dropping them near the door. I only saw them hurry in because I happened to be running behind too, having to function on ‘Simon time’ due to his insistence on taking me to class. Simon never started out until the moment he was supposed to be somewhere—OK for artists perhaps but not for students.

Seeing them run from the car to the front door, I thought the Benedicts looked harassed but otherwise fine.

Zed.

He heard me call out mind to mind, looked round, but Yves grabbed one arm and Victor the other, hurrying him under cover.

I’ll find you later
, he replied.

But I wanted him now. I had to swallow my disappointment and go to explain to Mr Joe why I had missed registration for the second day in a row.

I hid in the library at recess. Outside the snow was falling and all of us were inside, scattered over the school, seeking shelter. I’d chosen the reference section of the library, hoping to attract fewer stares there. My eye was still a multicoloured humiliation. Since my brief glimpse of Zed that morning, I had the horrible feeling that maybe my feelings for him were leaping way ahead of his for me. I was all cut up about the tiny matter of a threat to his life and he hadn’t even thought to call to tell me he was OK. Any thought messages I’d sent him had been left unanswered. Talk about blowing hot then cold. Perhaps that soulfinder rubbish had been just that—utter nonsense to win a few kisses.

But Zed found me in my bolt hole. Probably saw me there before I even arrived. He sat down opposite and just looked at me.

Sky, I’m sorry
.

Hey, another benefit of this mind-talking stuff—not only do you
have low phone bills but you don’t get chucked out of the library
. I pulled the P to Q section of the encyclopaedia towards me, pretending sudden interest in an article on penguins.

You mad at me?

No.

So why the cold shoulder?

I glanced up. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me. Oh my, he looked good—I wanted to bury my face in his shoulder and just hold on tight.

Your eye hurt?

No, your brother fixed that; he just left me looking like a dork.

I couldn’t come in until the area had been searched.

I guessed something like that was going on.

I couldn’t text you because there’s no network reception at
home. I’m sorry
.

No
, don’t apologize. I understand.

Do you really? Do you really understand how difficult it’s been
for me? I wanted to be with you—stay with you that day. You
argued with your dad, didn’t you?

Yeah, but we’re OK now.

You’re upset that I wasn’t there to take the heat about your eye.
People have been giving you a hard time.

Not hard, just awkward. Nelson’s after you.

I deserve it.

You were saving my life.

You should never have been in danger in the first place. I should
never have put you at risk. Look, can we go somewhere so we can
talk properly?

I don’t know if that’s a good idea.

He pulled the book from my fingers
. Penguins, such fascinat
ing creatures, but I didn’t know you were studying them. What
class is that you’re taking?

The ‘we stupid looking creatures should stick together’ class.

He tucked the book back on the shelf. ‘Come with me.’

‘Where?’

‘Music practice rooms. I booked one out, just in case.’

Zed put his arm around my shoulder and led me out of the library, staring down Sheena and her gang who smirked at us. One look from him and they quickly found somewhere else to direct their gaze. When we got to the room, he first checked it was empty, then pulled me inside and shut the door.

‘That’s better.’ He backed me against it and leant against me. ‘Just let me hold you a moment. I’ve not had a chance just to touch you since those killers went for us.’

I let him hold me, feeling completely overwhelmed by his tenderness. There was a desperate edge to his embrace, perhaps we both knew that we were lucky to be breathing, let alone hugging each other.

‘Sky, I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you,’ he whispered, his hands playing in the hair that I had let hang loose about my face to hide the bruise.

‘Why? Is something going to happen? Have you seen something?’