Wild Blue Yonder (The Ceruleans: Book 3) (17 page)

I turned to him. ‘Are
you
ready?’

He nodded, though his haunted eyes betrayed the pain he felt
at what he was about to do.

‘It’s the right thing,’ I told him.

‘I know,’ he said.

He held out his hand. I took it. And from beyond the grey
clouds, the blue liberated us.

Travelling brought me to my knees again. Only this time, not
because I was dizzy. This time, I was floored by the sight in front of me.

‘That house!’ I breathed. ‘I know that house! Jude, we’re in
Twycombe
!’

Jude, squatting beside me with a hand on my back, ready to
steady me, said wryly, ‘Well, that was the idea.’

We were on the tiny mezzanine floor of a wooden summerhouse,
hunched in the small gap between the single bed and the window. The ground
floor below, I knew, was a compact den, with a sofa and a little kitchenette. I
say I knew, because I
knew
this summerhouse. I’d been in it before,
several times. It belonged to my friend’s family, and was in the garden of
their million-pound designer house, which I was looking at right now through a
thin voile curtain.

I turned to Jude. ‘Si’s? Why Si’s?’ My heart was a bird
beating wildly in my chest. ‘Cara. Luke. Is
Luke
here?’

‘I hope not,’ Jude said. Then, seeing my face fall, he
added: ‘I know, Scarlett. I know you want to see him. But not now. We need to
find our feet and make a plan. To find
Sienna
. Do you understand?’

The thought of Luke someplace close by was torture, but I
managed to nod. ‘You didn’t answer the question,’ I said. ‘Why here?’

Jude ran a hand over his face and replied tiredly, ‘I didn’t
know where else to take you, to start off. We need someplace safe and quiet
right now. Si’s was the obvious choice.’

‘Si’s? Quiet?’ I thought of the riotous parties Si was
famous for.

‘Not the right word, perhaps. But here, in the summerhouse,
we’ll get a bit of calm and relief from all the people around – how they’ll
pull at us and exhaust us.’

‘But Si must think I’m dead or… well, I don’t know what Luke
and Cara told him. Gone off somewhere? When he sees me, won’t he be straight on
the phone to one of them?’

Jude smiled as if I’d missed a joke that was obvious.
‘Scarlett, remember what you learnt, right back when you first came to the
island, that there are a few people – people, not Ceruleans – out there who
know of us and support our work?’

‘Si?’

‘He’s a sponsor. His parents have been for a long time, and Si
was inducted a couple of years ago.’

I gaped at him, cogs turning furiously in my mind. But if Si
knew all about the Ceruleans then that meant…

‘All this time, he knew about Sienna? He knew she wasn’t
really dead? And he knew about me – that I was dying, where I was going? But he
never said a thing!’

‘I made him swear not to,’ said Jude. ‘Dealing with me was
hard enough for you. Si would just have complicated matters – and he’d have
been stuck right in the middle between you and me, and Luke and Cara, his good
friends.’

I shook my head, trying to knock some sense into it. ‘I
just… I mean, I’ve always liked Si. He’s always been kind to me. But I didn’t
for a minute… Hang on. You’ve stayed here before?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ve stayed here a lot, Scarlett. When
Sienna was here, and I was trying to convince her to come with me. And then
when you came to the cove. It’s not ideal – a little too close to people, not
as recharging as Cerulea. But it’s private and it has a decent phone signal.’

I gasped.
Idiot.
It hadn’t even occurred to me that
Jude and I had been in touch often on the phone in my last weeks in Twycombe,
and yet there was no mobile phone reception on the island.

‘But not always,’ Jude was saying. ‘That day you and Luke
nearly drowned in the sea I was in Cerulea, and I came horribly close to
arriving too late to save you. Good job when I turned up at the party,
fashionably late as always, Si’d noticed you leaving and Luke following.’

I shuddered as I remembered that night, the eve of my
eighteenth birthday. If Jude hadn’t found us on the beach, I’d have died right
there, leaving Luke to wake up next to a corpse.

‘So Si’s even more of a friend than I realised. But he’s
such a sociable bloke. Won’t he have visitors? People we know?’

‘Maybe.’

‘So do we hide here? But then how will Si know we’re here?
Is there some kind of secret signal you give so he knows you’re in the
summerhouse – ooh, an X taped on the window?’

Jude snorted. ‘I just text him. Phone? Remember?’

‘Ah,’ I said, embarrassed. ‘Right.’

He pulled his mobile out, tapped to start a new message and
typed:
You got company, mate? Beer and a catch-up would be good. J

‘There,’ he said. ‘Nice and innocent in case anyone’s
reading over his shoulder.’

His new-message tone beeped within seconds:
J man! Come
on in.

Jude smiled at me. ‘Coast’s clear. Let’s go.’

I held out my hand to him expectantly.

‘Er, I think we can manage walking across a garden, Scarlett.
Less tiring than Travelling, and a lot less unsettling for Si.’

‘Right,’ I said. ‘’Course. Sorry. Lead the way.’

And so, four months since leaving the little cove, I stepped
out again into its fresh, light air, and I saw the hotch-potched houses
scattered on the hill above, and I heard the roar of the waves behind me, and I
tasted the salt of the sea on my lips, and I thought,
Home.

*

‘Right, here we go. One large stuffed-crust super-supreme
pizza, one half meat feast, the other barbecue vegetable, with extra cheese.
One large Hawaiian pizza with extra green peppers. One spicy chicken calzone
minus the onions. Six slices of garlic bread with cheese. Two boxes of chicken
nuggets. Sour cream and chive dip, tomato and basil dip, firecracker-chilli
dip. Triple-choc-chunk ice-cream with toffee swirls. Two large bottles of Coke.
That’s the takeout delivery, and from the store cupboard, a case of Budweiser.
Are we set?’

Jude and I surveyed the mountain of food and drink Si had
laid out on the kitchen island.

I said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of food. Nathaniel would cry if
he saw us eating this.’

Jude said, ‘But I suppose we did skip breakfast – and lunch.’

Si said, ‘And you’ll need to get your strength up for the
days ahead…’

With that, the talking ended and the feasting began.

As I worked my way steadily – ecstatically – through a plate
loaded up with cheesy-tomatoey-bread-based heaven, I reflected that I’d sat
here, right on this stool, when I first met Si at a house party last summer,
and that the first impression I’d formed of him then still held true. A tall
black guy with an impressive physique and dancing eyes and a dazzling smile, he
was confident, he was cheerful and he was unfailingly generous. He’d taken my
arrival this afternoon right in his stride, and had folded me at once into a
quick, bone-jarring hug, and then he’d spent the rest of the afternoon chatting
easily with Jude and me. Just like old times. Well, almost…

The distance was new. Other than that first, fleeting
embrace, Si gave Jude – and especially me – plenty of space, sitting away from
us in the vast living room as we talked. I didn’t take offence at Si’s distance,
though. For in that first hug – my first contact with a human for all these
months – I’d got a sense of what Jude had warned me about. Something warm fired
up, the same feeling I got when I healed, but at a very low level. With enough
moments like that, I could imagine I’d be pretty worn out.

Then there was the topic of conversation. Usually, if I was
talking to Si, it was about music or a recent movie or surfing or our friends
in the cove. But today, the word ‘Cerulean’ tripped off Si’s tongue as easily
as ‘wave’ or ‘beer’. It quickly became evident that Si was as clued up to the
Cerulean life as was Jude (which surprised me), and he knew plenty of
Ceruleans, including Michael and David and Adam (which didn’t surprise me – Si
had always been the guy who knew everyone). So in this house, there was no need
for lies or half-truths or evasions, and Jude and I had told our friend the
whole story of the last few months. At the end of which everyone felt somewhat
pensive and emotional and in need of a break from the serious stuff, and before
you could say ‘comfort food’, a pizza delivery guy was knocking on the front
door.

‘So,’ said Jude. He paused to take a large glug of beer,
then continued in a conversational tone: ‘How are plans for the next benefit
going? What was the theme again – tarts and vicars?’

Si laughed. ‘No, mate. Murder mystery dinner and dance
cruise on the River Dart. Modelled on Agatha Christie’s
Death on the Nile
.
Sold a hundred tickets so far – good profits for the LBS.’

‘LBS?’ I queried.

‘The Lux Beneficent Society. It raises funds for the
Ceruleans’ work, and other local causes, like cancer hospices and the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution.’

‘Is it a big charity? I feel like I’ve heard of it.’

‘Not very big. It focuses only on Devon and Cornwall, of
course. But it does pretty well with income, has some wealthy major donors.
Like you, Scarlett.’

The penny dropped. ‘The All That Jazz party? That was an LBS
fundraiser?’

‘Yes.’

I chewed a mouthful of pizza slowly as the pieces of the
puzzle settled into place.

‘I hope you’re not angry with me, Scarlett, for not telling
you that
I
knew what
you
knew all this time.’ Si smiled
apologetically at me from across the island unit.

‘I’m not mad,’ I said. ‘You could hardly blurt it all out to
me out on the waves one day.’

‘True. At least I can be here for you now. It’s been a
really quiet few months without you, Jude. You haven’t been back at all?’

Jude shook his head. ‘Not since Scarlett died.’

‘Not since you came back and gave Luke my letter,’ I
corrected.

‘Oh. Sorry, I forgot.
That
was the last time I was
here.’

‘Let me guess, just after New Year’s?’ said Si.

Jude nodded.

‘Well,’ said Si, ‘that explains why Cara had me up a ladder
then, painting over strange red stains on their kitchen wall.’

‘Blood!’ I shot off my stool. ‘You said Luke was upset when
you went. You never said you two
fought
!’

‘We didn’t!’ said Jude. ‘Well, I suppose we did – but not
like you’re thinking. Not fisticuffs.’

Si burst out laughing and said in a posh voice, ‘Tally-ho,
chaps, what what. Fisticuffs on the croquet lawn at high noon.’

Jude grinned. ‘All right, all right. Not a
punch-up
then.’

I was the only one still frowning. ‘I don’t understand. What
happened?’

‘Well,’ said Jude. ‘Luke was pretty upset…’

‘You’ve established that!’ I snapped. ‘What happened?’

‘He was upset about the fire. Something about how it had
started and spread not making sense. And even though we’d been through it
before – endlessly – he kept demanding to know why I could come back but you
couldn’t. He seemed to have it in his head you were trapped or something.’ He
had the decency to grimace at that.

‘Anyway,’ he went on, ‘the more I told him –
again
–
that females simply can’t Travel, the more he refused to believe it. He was
seriously het up: volcano-red, and his hands were fists, like he was going to
hit me. I was all ready to Travel, in case, but then he picked up a bowl of
salsa that was on the counter – he was making dips, apparently – and threw it
at me.’

Si put a hand over his mouth in a futile effort to hide a
smirk.

‘I was a mess. So I picked up some guacamole and threw that.
Then he threw some kind of cream dip. Then I threw the hummus. Only it was too
thick and it just kind of slopped onto my feet. And we stared each other out
for a bit. And then I thought I’d better go.’

I stared at Jude. ‘You two had a
food fight
? What are
you, toddlers?’

Jude looked embarrassed, but Si said in his defence, ‘Much
more mature than a punch-up, though. If a little messier.’

My lips quirked at the corners as I pictured the scene. But
then I thought of Luke, so angry and hurt he wanted to lash out.

‘Is Luke okay?’ I asked Si.

He sobered at once. ‘He’s okay, Scarlett. A little quieter
these days, but not as angry as when you first left. He’s keeping himself busy.
Looking forward.’

‘Surfing?’

‘Hell, yes,’ said Si. ‘Most mornings. Some evenings.’

I smiled at the mental image of Luke on his board, flying
along a wave.

‘And Cara?’

Si’s face broke into a grin so wide I could see
gleaming-white back teeth. ‘She’s
good
,’ he said with feeling.

I raised an eyebrow, but he said no more. He didn’t need to
– the light in his eyes said it all.

‘They don’t know, I take it, that you’re a sponsor?’

Si shook his head. ‘I figured if they told me about you then
I’d be honest too. But those two have guarded your secret, Scarlett. Not a
peep. Not even from Cara. Though sometimes, when we’re watching a paranormal
film – she’s a bit obsessed with angel ones now – it’s pretty clear she’s
bursting to tell me something.’

All this talk of Luke and Cara was making me ache. I stared
down at my empty plate. Its swirling design blurred a little.

‘I need to see them,’ I said. ‘And my mother.’

When I looked up, only Si would make eye contact. Jude was
picking at the label on his Bud.

‘Jude?’

‘Not now, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘Tomorrow we’ll make a plan.
And then…’

‘And then I can see them?’

He picked up his beer and drank deeply.

‘It’s none of my business, Scarlett,’ said Si gently. ‘But
as someone who cares about all of you – you and Jude and Luke and Cara – I
think you’ve got to be really sure before you cross any lines. If you see them
again, and then leave them to find Sienna, and then… well, it’s painful for
them. Puts them right back where they were.’

He was right; I knew that. Finding Sienna came first. But
then what? What came after? The question was burning inside me, but judging by
Jude’s reaction, he wasn’t going to answer it. At least not today. And given
that he was my jailer still – the one with the power to grab me and Travel me
back to that island in a second – I didn’t want to get his back up by pushing
him.