I’l have to review who’s had contact with him.’
I felt better to know that I had been of use. Revived by this thought, I checked the clock: seven thirty.
‘You know something? I want to go to school today.’ I’d give anything to feel normal again—to be with friends who couldn’t change my thoughts, read my mind, or make things explode. It would also delay having to have the big conversation with Zed that I knew was coming.
‘What?’ Zed rubbed his rough chin. ‘You have the perfect excuse to miss class yet you want to go?’
‘I don’t like skiving. It makes me feel as if I’m sick, as if I’m letting Daniel Kel y win.’
‘Wel , if you put it like that, then we have to go. I’d better get ready. Man, I didn’t bother to revise for my physics test thinking I’d be with you here today.’
Saul frowned. ‘If you’re using Sky as an excuse to duck work, Zed …’
Zed was up and away. ‘Meet you down here in twenty minutes, Sky.’
‘I’l just let my parents know what I’m planning.’
Sal y and Simon were real y happy that I felt wel enough to face school.
‘You were absolutely right, darling,’ bubbled Sal y over the phone, ‘you needed a change of scene and the Benedicts were the best place for you to go.’
‘But I’l come back home tonight.’ Being here was too painful as I’d made up my mind to reject the savant world.
‘Wonderful. We’re planning a treat for you—a little trip.’
‘Not Vegas?’ I groaned, remembering Simon’s new idea.
‘If you’re feeling better, then we should put the bad memories to bed—see what the city has to offer.’
‘I don’t want to move there.’
‘Nor do I, darling. But you know Simon, he has to fol ow this to the end and then he’l decide our way in any case.’
I had no desire to go back to a city holding the Kel ys. ‘This woman who has got in touch: who is she again?’
‘Mrs Toscana—a friend of Mr Rodenheim apparently.’
‘What hotel does she manage?’
‘I forget. Circus Circus was it? Something like that.’
It rang no bel s but the coincidence was too suspicious; I decided I’d mention the approach to Victor just to be sure. ‘OK, Sal y. See you later.’
I walked into Wricke
nridge High at eight thirty
flanked by Yves and Zed. It felt strange: I’d only been away for a few weeks but it could have been months.
As I anticipated, I attracted guiltily intrigued stares. I didn’t need to read their minds to know what they were thinking: There she is—the girl who was kid napped. Cracked up, we hear. Gone crazy.
‘That’s not true, Sky,’ murmured Zed. ‘No one thinks you’re mad. They understand.’
We walked into the office to register my return. Mr Joe practical y leapt the desk to give me a hug.
‘Little Sky! You’re back! We’ve al been so worried!’ He wiped a tear from his eye and sniffed, part genuine, part enjoying the drama. ‘Are you quite sure you are ready?’
‘Yes, Mr Joe.’
He gave the Benedicts an assessing look. ‘You’re going to make sure she’s al right?’
‘Yes, sir,’ promised Zed.
‘You do that.’ Mr Joe handed me a card to take to my form room. ‘Now get along with you. You don’t want to be late on your first day back.’
And that was what it proved to be like: everyone was bending over backwards to help me settle in again. Even Sheena and her Vampire Brides were nice to me as if, like a spun glass bauble, I might shatter if they said anything cruel. Weirdly it made me miss their stupid bunny comments. I had got behind on al subjects but rather than present this as a problem the teachers organized ‘catch-up’ packs for me and students offered me the use of their notes. Tina had already photocopied hers. It dawned on me that somewhere along the way I had been accepted as belonging to the school and they were looking out for me as one of their own.
At lunch, I went along with Zed to the music practice. I wasn’t expecting to do any more than watch but Mr Keneal y was having none of it. He put me back on piano.
‘But the concert’s next week!’ I protested.
He produced a score from his bag with a flourish.
‘You’re right. Plenty of time to learn the piece I picked out for you.’
‘You’re expecting me to perform on my own?’
I looked round the room hoping to find some support from my fel ow students but even Nelson was grinning at Mr Keneal y’s tactics.
‘You were expecting not to? Why learn an instrument if you don’t want to be heard?’ asked the teacher.
I didn’t think he’d understand the pleasure I took in playing for myself so I kept quiet about that. ‘I’m not sure I’m feeling up to this.’
‘Nonsense. Best response to a hard knock like you’ve had is to fight back.’
I suppose I shared that philosophy. ‘OK. I’l have a look at the music.’
Mr Keneal y moved on to the violins, saying over his shoulder. ‘You’d better do more than look. Your name is already on the programme. I told Nelson to put it back on as soon as I heard you’d come to school this morning.’
Victor was lounging against his car at the end of school, waiting for us to emerge. He had some bad but not entirely unanticipated news for me.
‘Maria Toscana—better known as Maria Toscana Kel y.’ He displayed a photo of Daniel Kel y’s daughter on his laptop as we sat in the back seat of his Prius. ‘She married an Italian Count but she dumped him two years ago and joined Daddy’s empire. Lucky escape for him, I’d say.’
So my instinct had been right. ‘They’re trying to get to me through my parents.’
‘And through you to us. The Kel ys’ score with the Benedicts has grown longer since we took out two of their men at the warehouse. It might be the lead we’re looking for.’
Zed’s arm was draped around my shoulders. He now sat up straight, alerted to the dangerous situation that was brewing.
‘You can’t use Sky and her parents in this, Vick.’
Victor shut the lid of the laptop. ‘We’re beating our heads against a brick wal at the moment, not least on the whereabouts of the two escapees. The whole family should be behind bars, but we can’t even keep those we put there under lock and key. It’s frustrating to say the least.’
‘What do you think I can do?’ I asked.
‘I had in mind that you could wear a wire when you meet Maria Toscana Kel y.’
‘But she’l be walking into a trap!’ protested Zed.
‘Vick, she’s not doing that.’
‘Not if we know about it first—then we can reverse it, catch them instead. These people won’t stop coming after us until we get them. I’m thinking of her as wel as us—she’s one of us too.’
I toyed with the straps of my schoolbag. I could help the Benedicts if I did this. If nothing was done, they’d never be able to breathe freely. It was the least I could do as I had been increasingly panicking about the savant thing and was coming to the conclusion that the best thing I could do—the safest
—was to run. I’d have to tel Zed that I had no intention of being anything more than his temporary girlfriend. Very soon I’d go back to England and leave the savant world behind.
‘Don’t listen to him, Sky,’ Zed said softly.
‘But I can help.’
He looked resolute. ‘I’d prefer to know you’re safe and wel even if it means that the danger doesn’t go away for my family.’
‘What’s the use of that? We’l al be in a kind of prison—one run by Daniel Kel y.’
‘Oh God, Sky, don’t do this to me.’ Zed put his forehead to mine, his distress reaching me in black waves shot through with lightning flashes of silver.
He was so quick to protect me; it was about time he al owed me to return the favour. I wasn’t the frail damsel in distress he seemed to think; I had my own power, my own agenda. If I couldn’t be the brave partner he needed, the least I wanted was to make sure he and his family would never be harmed by these people.